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INTEODUCTION 


TO   THE 


SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 


3n   Zwo  pnvte. 

,  THE  ABBEY  OF 

'     ' tlSi, 

EEV.  JOHN  MacDEVITT,  D.D.,       .^t««**' 

PEOFESSOE   OF  THE  INTEODUCTION  TO   SCEIPTUEE,  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTOEY,  ETC. 
ALL  HALLOWS  FOEEIGN  MISSIONAEY  COLLEGE,    DUBLIN. 


BENZIGEE    BEOTHERS, 

New  Yoek,  Cincinnati,  and  Chicago. 


1889. 

lAUm^hts  Reserved. 


mm  oDstat, 

Thomas  A.  Finlay,  S.J., 

Censor  Theohgm  Deputus, 


5mpninatur, 

•^  GuLiELMUS  J.  Walsh 


A  rch  iep I'scopus  D uUinensis, 
nUernice  Primaa. 


LOAN  STAC* 


PRINTED  BY  SBALY,  BRYEIiS  AND  WALKER,  MIDDLE  ABBEY  STRKKT,  DUBLIN. 

\ 


Ms 


INTRODUCTION 

TO    THL 

SACRED    SCRIPTURES, 


601 


CONTENTS. 

♦ 

PART  I.—GENERAL  INTRODUCTION— PREFACE. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — THE   SCmPTUHE   OEIGINALS 1 

II. VERSIONS   OF   THE  OLD   AKD   NEW   TESTAMENTS 20 

III. THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH,  AND  ANTI-CATHOLIC  SYSTEMS 

IN  CONNECTION  WITH   THE   BIBLE 44 

IV. — GENUINENESS   OF  THE    OLD   AND   NEW  TESTAMENTS...  58 

V. — INTEGRITY   OF  THE   OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS 75 

VI. — CREDIBILITY   OP  THE   OLD   AND   NEW  TESTAMENTS....  91 

VII. — INSPIRATION   OF   THE   BIBLE 105 

VIII. — CANON   OF   THE   SACRED    SCRIPTURES 122 

IX . — INTERPRETATION  OF  THE    SACRED    SCRIPT URES 144 

X. — AUTHORITY  OF  THE  LATIN  VULGATE  AND  THE  READING 

OF   THE   BIBLE   IN   THE   VERNACULAR 153 

XL — THE  BOOK   OF   GENESIS   AND    NATURAL   SCIENCE 1G4 

PART  II.— SPECIAL  INTRODUCTION. 

The  Old  Testament  Books. 

i.— the  pentateuch 187 

il historical  books  of  the  old  testament 195 

iii. moral  books  of  the  old  testament,  and   the 

prophets 213 

The  New  Testament  Books. 

I. — the  four   gospels.      acts   OF   THE    APOSTLES.      THE 

APOCALYPSE » * * * 219 

II. — THE   EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL 233 

III. — THE   SEVEN    CATHOLIC   EPISTLE  > 262 


gf    ■'    *'•   ■■    "'   " 


«»    "     ^g    "    "   "^ 


PREFACE. 


'  The  terminology  of  Latin  has  a  fixed  meaning,  no 
longer  subject  to  tlie  cliangcs  incidental  to  a  living 
tongue.  Hence  the  unfolding  of  the  Sacred  Sciences 
in  that  language,  according  to  the  time-honoured 
practice  of  the  Catholic  Church,  possesses  advantages, 
so  many  and  so  obvious,  that  almost  every  Catholic 
work  on  the  Introduction  to  Scripture  is  written  in 
Latin.  "While,  however,  the  Catholic  Church  uses 
in  her  liturgy,  and  legislation,  the  Latin  tongue, 
which  is  one  and  the  same  for  the  Italian,  and 
the  Scandinavian,  she  is  careful  to  expound  her 
ritual  and  laws  in  the  vernacular  of  every  country. 
Acting  in  this  spirit  I  have  employed  the  English,  a 
language  which  is  now  spoken  by  80  or  100  millions 
throughout  the  world,  in  the  hope  that  by  aiding 
towards  a  wider  knowledge  of  God's  written-word, 
the  love  of  Catholics  for  it  will  be  deepened,  and 
that  amongst  non- Catholics,  earnest  minds  may  be 
led  to  see  the  truth  about  the  Bible.  I  feel,  too, 
that  at  a  time  when  the  age  is  embittered  with 
angry  controversy  on  the  author  it//  of  Scripture,  it 


IV  PREFACE. 


is  desirable  to  have  a  direct  statement  of  Catholic 
teaching  on  this  solemn  question. 

It  is  right  to  add,  in  affectionate  memory  of  ni}' 
dear  brother,  the  late  Bishop  of  Eaphoe,  that  in  a 
few  jolaces  I  have  di'aAvn  npon  notes  he  bequeathed 
to  me.  I  am  also  under  obligations  to  the  lamented 
Dr.  Dixon,  who,  before  his  elevation  to  the  Primatial 
See  of  Armagh,  filled  the  chair  oi  Scripture  in 
Maynooth,  and  left  an  enduring  record  of  his  pro- 
found  Eiblical  erudition,  in  his  ^'General  Introduction 
to  the  Sacred  Scriptures,"  published  in  1852. 

In  conclusion,  I  hope  this  little  book  will  help 
to  foster  tender  associations  in  the  many  loving  and 
generous  hearts,  who  pass  year  after  year  out  of 
these  halls,  away  from  home,  to  the  holy  work  of 
keeping  the  faith  active  among  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  Ireland  in  foreign  countries.  / 

All  Hallows  Fobeign  Missionaey  College, 
Dublin-,  Easter,  1889. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

THE    SCRIPTURE    ORIGINALS. 

Eeligion — Eevelation — Bible — Its  original  material  and  form — 
Its  division  into  Old  and  New  Testament— Language  of  the  Old 
Testament  Originals— Hebrew  believed  to  be  the  primeval  tongue 
— Jewish  distribution  and  classification  of  the  Old  Testament — 
When  and  how  the  Hebrew  character  of  the  Old  Testament  was 
modified — When  and  how  the  words  and  sentences  in  the  Old 
Testament  Text  were  separated— How  the  Text  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment was  arranged  before  the  introduction  of  chapters  and  of 
verses — The  Old  Testament  Originals — Their  oldest  copies — The 
Samaritan  Pentateuch — Copy  of  Esdras — The  Masora — Mishna — 
Gemara — Talmud— Keri—Ketib— Hebrew  vowel  Points— Copies  of 
the  Masora  by  Ben-Ascher  and  Ben-Nepthali — Present  copies — 
Language  of  the  New  Testament  Originals— Their  change  in  form 
of  Greek  letter — The  separation  of  their  words  and  sentences — 
Ancient  divisions  of  the  New  Testament— Its  modern  chapters  and 
verses— Autographs  of  New  Testament  Originals— Their  copies — 
The  Codex  Sinai ticus— Codex  Vaticanus — Codex  Alexandrinus — 
Codex  Ephrem,  etc.  / 

Eeligion: — Seeing  that  the  Sacred  Scriptures  con- 
tain a  large  proportion  of  the  truths  of  Eeligion,  it 
is  right  that  this  Introduction  should  begin  with  a 
short  notice  of  Eeligion  and  its  teaching.  God 
created  man  and  placed  him  in  a  state  of  probation 
where  he  may  earn  for  himseK  eternal  beatitude. 
Hence  every  human  being  finds  rooted  in  his 
rational  nature  a  feeling  of  entire  dependence  on 
the  Creator,  a  desire  to  propitiate  Him,  and  a  longing 
after    blessed   immortality.     This  solemn  sense  ol 


L  IXTRODUCTION   TO    THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

conscience  tmites  man  with  his  God,  prompting 
and  guiding  him  in  his  efforts  to  know  Him,  to 
love  Him,  and  to  serve  Him,  and  it  is  called  Religion 
from  the  Latin,  religo  to  bind,  because  it  constitutes 
a  bond  between  the  creature  and  his  Creator.  / 

Eevelation  : — While  some  of  the  truths  con- 
cerning the  knowledge  of  God  had  been  imprinted 
9n  the  heart  of  man  at  the  moment  it  was  formed, 
most  of  them  were  communicated  by  special  mes- 
sengers, directly  appointed  to  this  office.  They 
delivered  part  of  their  divine  message  orally,  and 
part  in  writing.  The  first  is  the  unwritten  word 
of  God  or  Tradition^  being  handed  on  by  an  un- 
broken line  of  supematurally  guided  teachers, 
and  the  second  is  the  written  word,  the  Sacred 
Scriptures^  similarly  safe-guarded  from  above.  / 

The  Bible  : — The  ancients,  while  their  laws 
and  public  inscriptions  were  engraved  on  stone  or 
other  hard  substance,  wrote  their  books  upon  soft 
materials,  and  of  these  the  one  most  in  use 
was  made  from  the  Papyrus  or  bulrush  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nile.  The  Greek  for  this  is  Bi/3Xios  (Bible), 
which  was  ultimately  applied  to  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
ture, to  express  its  superiority  over  all  other  books. 
The  inner  bark  of  trees,  called  liher^  in  Latin,  was 
also  used  as  a  material  upon  which  to  Avrite,  and 
from  this  circumstance  the  word  "  liber "  came  to 
signify  a  book  in  process  of  time.  Parchment  or 
vellum  was  introduced  by  the  King  of  Pergamus, 


THE    SCRIPTURE    ORIGINALS. 


about  250  b.c.  On  these  soft  substances  the 
writing  was  done  by  a  Calamus  or  reed,  dipped 
in  a  fluid  like  our  ink.  The  prophet  Jeremias 
(xxxiii.  18,  19)  mentions  this,  and  the  Yulgate 
translates  it  atramentum^  which  is  described  to  be 
a  preparation  of  charcoal,  gum,  and  water.  / 

In  Ezechiel  (ii.  9),  and  Apocalypse  (v.  1),  the 
phrase  ''  writing  within  and  without"  occurs,  from 
which  it  would  appear  that  both  sides  of  the  parch- 
ment were  covered  ;  but  this  was  the  exception,  and 
one  side  only  the  rule.  When  a  number  of  these 
leaves  had  been  thus  written  upon,  they  were  sewed 
together,  not  in  pages,  but  one  to  the  bottom  of  the 
other,  and  the  end  of  the  last  fastened  to  a  round 
stick,  upon  which  the  whole  was  wound.  This  is 
the  Hebrew  megillagh^  the  Latin  Volumen,  and 
seems  to  be  the  oldest  form  of  book.  The  Jews 
believe  that  their  Sacred  Scripture  was  first  'written 
on  vellum,  and  hence  they  have  it  invariably  read  in 
the  Synagogue  from  rolls  of  parchment. 

Testaments  : — St.  Paul  has  divided  theEible  into 
the  Old  and  !N'ew  i^iaOriKq  (Covenant)  because  it  sets 
forth  the  covenant  which  God  made  with  the  Jews 
when  He  constituted  them  His  chosen  people,  and 
afterwards  with  Jews  and  Gentiles  when  Christ 
redeemed  the  world  (2  Corinthians  iii.  14,  and 
Hebrews  ix.  15).  This  Aia%r;  of  St.  Paul  is  trans- 
lated Testamentum  in  the  Latin  Yulgate,  and 
Testament  in  English.  / 


4  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

The  Old  Testament: — In  the  Catliolic  list  of 
Canonical  Scriptures,  which  coming  down  from  the 
Apostles,  has  been  solemnly  defined  by  the  Council 
of  Trent,  there  are  forty-five  books  in  the  Old 
Testament  The  first  five,  or  Pentateuch,  as  they  are 
styled  in  Greek,  contain  the  Law^  that  is  the  divine 
precepts  summed  up  in  the  Decalogue,  and  the  rules 
regulating  the  morals  and  public  worship  of  the 
chosen  people  of  God.  I 

Language  of  the  Old  Testament  Originals  : — 
The  primeval  tongue  of  our  race  was,  if  we  are  to 
believe  Jewish  tradition,  the  Hebrew,  Some  of  the 
most  eminent  Doctors  of  the  Christian  Church 
endorse  this  belief.  St.  Jerome,  in  his  commentary 
on  Sophonias  (iii.  18)  says  this,  and  St.  Augustine  in 
the  City  of  God  (Qook  xvi.)  holds  the  language  of 
our  first  parents  to  have  been  preserved  from  the 
shock  of  the  confusion  at  Babel,  in  the  family  of 
Sem,  the  head  of  which  was  Heher,  It  would  appear 
that  he  declined  taking  any  part  as  regards  the 
building  of  the  Tower  of  Babel,  and  as  a  reward,  he 
and  his  posterity  were  secured  in  the  possession  of 
man's  first  language,  which  thenceforward  received 
the  name  oi  Hebrew^  from  this  Heber,  and  in  regular 
succession  it  came  to  Abraham,  who  conveyed  it  to 
the  whole  Jewish  people,  of  whom  he  was  the 
father.  Hebrew  is  the  language  in  which  was 
written  not  only  the  Pentateuch ;  but  every  old 
Testament  book  in  the  Canon,  except  a  few  which 


THE    SCRIPTURE   ORIGIXALS. 


were  written  in  Chaldaic;  viz.,  Tobias  and  Judith, 
with  nearly  three  chapters  of  the  First  Book  of 
Esdras,  and  about  an  equal  portion  of  the  prophecy 
of  Daniel.  Greek  was  the  original  language  of  the 
Eook  of  "Wisdom,  and  of  the  Second  Book  of  the 
Machabees.  / 

Chai^ges  m  THE  Old  Testament  Originals: — 
These  originals  of  the  Old  Testament  in  reaching 
us  had  a  longer  journey  to  accomplish  than  those 
of  the  New  Testament,;  but  the  changes  they 
underwent  were  somewhat  similar  both  in  number 
and  in  character.  The  Old  and  the  New  Testament 
consisted  always  of  distinct  parts ;  thus,  in  the 
former,  Genesis  was  separated  from  Exodus,  etc., 
just  as  in  the  latter  the  various  Gospels  and  Epistles 
were  separated  from  one  another.  In  addition  to 
this  natural  division  the  Jews  distributed  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament  into  as  many  parts  as  there 
are  letters  in  the  Hebrew  alphabet.  How  many 
letters,  however,  there  were  in  this  alphabet  was  a 
matter  on  which  they  did  not  agree.  Not  a  few 
put  forward  twenty -two  as  the  correct  enumeration; 
but  others  following  the  triple  repetition  of  the  letter 
yod  for  Jehovah^  which  reverence  forbade  them  to 
write,  were  in  favour  of  twenty -four.  Then  a  large 
body  reckoned  as  many  as  twenty-seven,  on  the 
ground  that  the  five  final  letters  should  be  exclusive 
of  the  twenty-two,  and  thus  in  the  Old  Testament 
books  of  ten  twenty-two ;  but  sometimes  twenty-four 


6  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

or  twenty-seven  parts  were  counted.  All  the 
writings  of  the  Old  Testament  were  by  the  Jews 
classified  under  three  heads,  viz.:  the  Law,  the 
Prophets,  and  ^c^^^mjt?/^^^  or  Sacred  writings.  / 

The  old  Hebrew  letter  was  modified  into  the 
Chaldaic  character,  most  probably  when  Esdras 
revised  the  Jewish  Canon,  512  B.C.  But  the  words, 
sentences,  and  clauses  of  sentences,  were  not 
properly  separated  until  the  present  punctuation 
was  adopted  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  century.  So  too 
the  old  divisions  into  Parashioth^  Haptaroth^  and 
Siderim^  which  set  out  the  Hebrew  books  equally 
over  the  Sabbaths  of  the  year  for  the  purpose 
of  Divine  Service,  prepared  the  way  for  our  chapters. 
The  division  of  the  Yulgate  into  chapters  was  first 
introduced  by  Cardinal  Hugo  a  Sancto  Charo  in 
1244,  and  from,  it  they  were  transferred  into  the 
Hebrew  text  by  Mardochai  Nathan,  a  learned 
Jewish  Eabbiii  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Subse- 
quently the  further  division  into  verses  came  into 
existence  in  1548,  and  were  the  institution  of  Eobert 
Etienne  (Stephen),  but  they  did  not  find  their  way 
into  the  Hebrew  Bible  until  1661,  when  they  were 
marked  off  for  the  first  time  in  a  very  expensive 
edition  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  published  by  Athias, 
a  wealthy  Jewish  printer  of  Amsterdam.  | 

The  Old  Testament  Originals  being  perishable, 
did  not  last  long;  but  the  most  ancient  copy 
of  the    first   five   books   exists  in  the  Samaritan 


THE    SCRIPTURE    ORIGINALS. 


Pentateuch,  Eoboam  succeeded  his  father,  Solomon, 
as  King  of  Judah,  in  975  B.C.  By  imposing 
heavy  taxes,  and  enforcing  their  payment  harshly, 
he  drove  a  large  body  of  his  subjects  into  open 
rebellion,  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the  prophecy  sent 
by  God  to  Solomon,  that  for  his  sins  the  kingdom 
would  be  divided  and  given  to  another.  Ten  of  the 
twelve  tribes  renounced  their  allegiance  to  Eoboam, 
and  withdrew  into  Samaria,  where  they  formed 
themselves  into  the  independent  Kingdom  of  Israel. 
The  secessionists  brought  with  them  a  copy  of  the 
Pentateuch  or  Law^  which  they  ascribed  to  Phineas, 
grandson  of  Aaron,  and  with  this  precious  Scripture 
they  set  up  in  Samaria,  a  worship  of  their  own. 
Jeroboam,  whom  they  made  their  king,  encouraged 
this  step,  in  order  that  he  might  render  impossible 
for  ever  the  healing  of  the  schism.  He  knew  well 
that  sectarian  differences  make  those  of  the  same 
race  hate  each  other  with  the  most  bitter  hatred. 
It  happened  accordingly ;  so  that  from  the  moment 
the  revolted  tribes  proclaimed  their  religious  inde- 
pendence, a  feeling  of  vindictive  animosity  sprang 
up  between  them  and  their  brethren  of  Juda,  which 
became  more  intensified  by  time.  The  rival  system 
of  Jewish  ceremonial,  thus  instituted  in  Samaria, 
had  a  deep  tinge  of  idolatry.  A  golden  calf  was 
installed  there  by  Jeroboam,  in  the  place  of  the 
true  God,  and  crowds  flocked  to  it.  In  vain  did 
the  prophets,  under  threat  of  the  Divine   wrath, 


O  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

warn  the  people  off  from  tlie  unholy  practice.  At 
length,  in  722  B.C.,  Salmanasar,  King  of  Assyria, 
conquered  Israel,  and  carried  away  most  of  the 
Israelites  into  exile  at  Nineveh,  leaving  a  few  to 
amalgamate  with  the  Chaldaean  colonists,  migrated 
by  the  conqueror.  From  this  fusion  came  the 
Samaritans,  who,  with  their  preponderating  element 
of  idolatry,  combined  something  of  the  Mosaic  rites./ 
In  530  B.C.,  the  Kingdom  of  Juda  was  restored 
from  its  protracted  captivity  in  Babylon.  After 
a  little  time,  Manasses,  who  discharged  the 
duties  of  ministering  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem, 
and  brother  of  the  High  Priest  then,  incurred 
the  excommunication  of  the  Sanhedrim  for  obsti- 
nately persisting  in  his  union  with  a  Pagan 
wife.  He  at  once  joined  the  Schismatics  in  Samaria, 
and  to  revenge  his  expulsion  on  Orthodox  Juda,  he 
had  a  rival  temple  built  on  Mount  Garizim,  and 
there  offered  sacrifices  with  all  the  details  of  the 
Mosaic  ritual.  It  was  given  out  that  idolatry  had 
ceased  in  Samaria,  and  the  Samaritans  suddenly 
proclaimed  themselves  ihe  chosen  people  of  God,  in 
opposition  to  their  brethren  of  Juda.  The'  mutual 
hatred  thus  aggravated  was  maintained  for  200 
years,  when  Jolin  Hircanus,  son  of  the  High  Priest, 
Simeon,  made  a  raid  into  Samaria,  where  he  demol- 
ished the  temple  on  Mount  Garizim,  and  scattered 
the  Samaritans,  with  the  exception  of  a  few,  whose 
descendants   still   exist  at   Nablousc,    the   ancient 


THE    SCRIPTURE    ORIGINALS. 


Shechem,  This  people  refuse  to  hold  any  commu- 
nication  with  the  race  of  Juda  ;  but  they  keep  the 
Jewish  pasch,  and  the  whole  of  the  Mosaic  law,  as 
contained  in  this  rare  copy  of  the  Pentateuch,  which 
they  hold  in  great  veneration.  In  1616,  the  learned 
Italian,  Pietro  Delia  Yalla,  purchased  from  the 
Samaritans,  in  Damascus,  a  copy  belonging  to 
the  tenth  century,  of  this  much-prized  manuscript, 
and  since  then  other  copies  found  their  way  into 
European  libraries.  It  is  the  oldest  of  the  Hebrew 
originals,  but,  as  already  stated,  contains  only  the 
Pentateuch.  It  was  first  printed  in  the  Paris 
Polyglot,  1632./ 

Copy  of  Esdras  : — The  entire  Hebrew  text  has, 
however,  come  down  in  the  Copy  of  Esdras,  which 
dates  from  530  B.C.  Seventy  years  previously  to 
this  Jerusalem  was  taken  by  JN'abuchodonosor,  King 
of  Babylon,  and  in  the  wreck  which  followed, 
nearly  all  the  copies  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures, 
including  the  very  autographs,  supposed  to  have 
been  kept  in  the  temple,  disappeared.  In  the 
troubles  of  the  long  exile  that  succeeded  to  this 
E^ational  calamity  the  sacred  book  of  the  Jews 
was  transcribed  by  so  many  careless  hands,  that  the 
people  as  soon  as  released,  begged  Esdras,  "the 
Prince  of  the  Doctors  of  the  Law,"  to  purge  it  of 
its  numerous  inaccuracies.  He  did  so  by  consulting 
the  few  correct  copies  that  escaped  the  overthrow 
of  Jerusalem.     The  whole  of  the  text  thus  revised, 


10  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

he  wrote  with  his  own  hand,  not  in  the  old  Hebrew, 
most  probably,  but  in  the  Chaldaic  character,  with 
which  the  Jews  were  then  most  familiar.  To  enable 
Esdras  to  reproduce  the  text  as  contained  in  the 
originals  that  were  burned,  some  of  the  ancient 
Fathers  thought  the  Holy  Ghost  co-operated  with 
him  specially.  But  such  inspiration  was  not  needed 
for  the  work  which  Esdras  accomplished.  In  the 
terrible  conflagration  which  reduced  the  Temple 
and  City  of  Jerusalem  to  ashes,  when  taken  by 
IN'abuchodonosor,  every  copy  of  the  sacred  book 
did  not  perish.  Some  eighteen  years  before  this 
last  blow  fell  upon  the  doomed  city,  a  number 
of  its  most  distinguished  citizens  were  tran- 
sported to  Eabylon.  Among  them  was  Daniel, 
the  prophet,  and  it  is  certain  that  he  brought  with 
him  into  captivity  a  copy  of.  the  sacred  volume, 
for  he  mentions  his  having  consulted  it: — "I 
Daniel  understood  by  books,  the  number  of  the 
years  concerning  which  the  word  of  the  Lord  came 
to  Jeremias,  the  prophet "  (Daniel  ix.  2).  Afterwards 
when  the  total  extinction  of  Jerusalem  was  effected, 
Jeremias,  the  prophet,  who  elected  to  stay  and  sing 
his  lamentations  over  that  ruin  which  he  had  so  often 
foretold,  took  a  last  farewell  of  his  sorrowing 
countrymen,  as  they  were  being  banished  into 
Babylon,  by  presenting  them  with  a  copy  of  the 
Scriptures: — ^^And,  how  he  gave  them  the  law 
that  they  should  not  forget  the  commandments  of 


THE    SCRIPTURE    ORIGINALS.  11 


the  Lord  "  (2  Machabees  ii.  2).  The  liberation  of 
the  Jews  from  their  long  captivity  was  due  to  the 
action  of  Cyrus,  the  Persian  monarch  and  con- 
queror of  Babylon,  who  had  his  attention  called  to 
the  mention  of  his  own  name  in  a  passage  of  the 
Jewish  Scriptures^  and  this  so  moved  him,  that  he 
at  once  ordered  the  exiles  to  be  released  (Esdras  i.  1). 
Therefore  the  Jews  in  going  into  captivity,  and 
during  it,  were  not  without  copies  of  their  Sacred 
Scriptures,  so  that  these  copies  easily  supplied 
Esdras  with  the  ground  work  of  his  revision./ 

The  Masora  : — During  succeeding  centuries 
the  copy  of  Esdras  suffered  so  much  at  the 
hands  of  numerous  transcribers,  that  the  Jews  in 
the  fifth  century  of  our  era  resolved  to  restore  it 
to  the  state  in.  which  it  came  from  his  pen. 
Accordingly  the  services  of.  competent  scholars  were 
employed,  and  that,  these  might  be  stimulated  to  a 
supreme  effort,  they  were  located  in  two  rival 
institutions— one  at;  Tiberias  and  another  at  Babylon. 
Their  labours  spread  over  centuries,  and  were  of  the 
most  searching  character.  Every  word  was  examined 
with  scrupulous  care,  and  amended  if  necessary, 
according  to  the  form,  found  to  be  duly  handed  down 
in  the  Synagogue  from  generation  to  generation. 
The  Hebrew  for  this  tradition  is  Masora^  and  being 
made  the  standard  of  correction,  it  gave  the  name 
Masora  to  the  work  itself,  and  Masorets  to  those 
engaged   upon    it.      This    body   of    authoritative 


12  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

teaching  in  the  Synagogue  was  conveyed  from  age 
to  age,  partly  in  the  Mishna  or  oral  law,  which 
accompanied  the  written  or  Mosaic  code,  and  partly 
in  the  Gemara  or  commentary  of  the  Jewish  Doctors 
upon  the  Mkhna^  both  being  united  in  one  collection, 
called  the  Talmud.  With  the  Jews  the  authority  of 
this  teaching  was  final,  and  as  it  transmitted  the 
constant  teaching  of  their  highest  authority,  its 
voice  commanded  the  most  unqualified  respect. 
Such  is  the  character  of  the  guide  that  conducted 
the  learned  Eabbins  at  Tiberias  and  Babylon 
through  their  anxious  inquiry.  If  after  patient 
examination  they  found  a  word  to  be  erroneously 
set  down,  a  special  mark  (Ketib)  was  attached, 
and  opposite  on  the  margin  they  wrote  the 
correct  word  or  Keri.  In  arriving  at  this  result 
the  process  of  investigation  became  exhaustive 
in  the  extreme,  for  it  embraced  not  only  words  but 
letters,  and  how  often  the  same  word  was  repeated 
in  different  meanings,  while  the  gaps  were  detected, 
and  the  missing  parts  supplied,  as  far  as  their 
traditions  and  other  means  at  their  command 
enabled  them  to  do  so.  Then  if  the  word 
happened  to  be  short  of  a  letter,  or  had  one  in 
excess,  this  was  noticed,  and  even  the  defective 
formation  or  other  peculiarity  of  any  letter  occupied 
attention.  Every  change,  in  fact,  no  matter  how 
trivial,  was  marked,  and  these  annotations  accumu- 
lated to  such  dimensions  that  they  covered   both 


THE    SCRIPTURE    ORIGINALS  13 

lateral  margins  of  the  page,  as  well  as  the  top  and 
bottom.  This  is  the  great  Masora,  which,  when 
compressed  into  a  summary,  shrunk  into  the  small 
Masora^  while  the  final  Masora  is  merely  an  appen- 
dix, consisting  of  extracts  from  the  great  Masora.  / 
Having  thus  fixed  the  correct  reading,  the  Masorets 
determined  to  prevent  as  far  as  possible,  the  danger 
of  any  future  departure  from  it.  With  this  object 
they  introduced  an  accent  over  the  last  word  of 
every  line,  thereby  laying  the  foundation  in  the 
Hebrew  text  of  the  present  punctuation,  as  well  as 
of  the  division  into  verses.  Then  by  separating  the 
Hagiographa  or  moral  books  of  the  old  Testament 
into  giderim  or  Orders^  they  prepared  the  way  for 
our  chapters  in  the  Hebrew  Bible.  But  the  vowel- 
points  were  the  most  successful  plan  adopted  by 
the  Masorets  for  preserving  the  purity  of  the 
Hebrew  text.  Previous  to  this  four  Hebrew  con- 
sonants— Aleph,  He,  Yau,  Yod — were  made  to  do 
the  work  of  vowels.  But,  how  was  the  reader 
to  know  when  these  letters  were  to  be  read  as 
consonants,  and  when  as  vowels?  This  difficulty 
was  solved  by  the  invention  of  Hebrew  vowel-points, 
that  is,  those  small  particles  within  or  about  the 
Hebrew  letters.  Thus,  the  dot  (•)  within  the 
letter  n  (Yau)  represents  the  long  vowel  w,  and  the 
short  vowel  e  is  indicated  by  the  three  dots  (*.•) 
under  the  letter  ^'.  (Aleph).  The  labours  of  the 
Masorets  were   not   completed  until   early  in  the 


14  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

eleventh  century,  when  two  corrected  copies  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  were  published,  one  by  Ben- 
Ascher,  the  last  President  of  the  celebrated  Academy 
at  Tiberias,  and  another  by  Ben-Nepthali,  head  of  the 
rival  institution  at  Babylon.  The  Eastern  Jews  hold 
fast  to  the  revision  of  Ben-Nepthali,  while  their 
brethren  of  the  West  follow  that  of  Ben-Ascher,  and 
from  both  these  sources  all  existing  Hebrew  manu- 
scripts have  grown  into  four  large  families — Spanish^ 
German^  French^  and  Italian,  They  represent  the 
Masoretic  text  exclusively,  and  because  the  Spanish 
manuscripts  are  closest  to  it,  they  are  pronounced 
the  most  faithful,  as  well  as  the  oldest,  though 
not  one  can  be  produced  dating  earlier  than  the 
ninth  century.  ( 

New  Testament: — The  twenty-seven  Noav 
Testament  books,  enumerated  in  the  Catholic  Canon 
were,  with  the  exception  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel, 
written  in  the  Greek  of  the  Colonies,  which  began 
to  be  established  after  the  war  of  Troy  in  the  islands 
of  the  Egean  Sea,  and  along  the  coasts  of  Asia 
Minor.  This  colonial  Greek,  Alexander  the  Great 
(330  B.C.),  made  the  language  of  the  world,  which 
he  had  conquered ;  but  in  the  New  Testament^ 
it  was  diluted  with  Syro-Chaldaic,  into  which,  the 
old  Hebrew  of  the  Jews,  degenerated  during  their 
seventy  years  of  captivity  in  Babylon.  This 
New  Testament  Greek,  however,  in  time  began  to 
undergo  a  change  in  the  form  of  written  character. 


THE    SCRIPTURE   ORIGINALS.  15 


The  ill-shaped  Uncials  or  Capitals  were  gradually 
modified  into  the  graceful  cursives  or  small  letters 
of  the  tenth  century.  And  again,  before  a.d.  462  no 
separation  of  the  text  existed,  into  words,  sentences 
or  clauses.  In  that  year  Euthalius,  an  Egyptian 
Bishop,  introduced  into  his  edition  of  the  ]N"ew  Testa- 
ment, a  small  cross  to  mark  off  what  he  termed  a  o-nxos 
or  liQe.  The  larger  divisions,  however,  had  their 
origin  in  one  of  the  Apostolic  Constitutions ^  which 
directed  that  a  part  of  the  Gospels  be  read  and 
explained  to  the  people  on  every  solemn  occasion  they 
were  obliged  to  attend  Mass.  To  meet  this  rule  the 
Gospels  had  to  be  cast  into  as  many  TrcptKOTrot',  as  there 
were  Sundays  and  holidays  of  obligation  in  the  year. 
This  plan  was  extended  under  the  name  of  amyi/wo-zAaTa 
(lessons)  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  Epistles 
in  the  fifth  century,  by  the  same  Euthalius,  who 
fixed  the  oTtxos.  To  the  tt^plkottol  succeeded  what 
were  called  after  the  name  of  their  author,  Ammonian 
sections.  This  Ammonius,  an  eminent  Christian 
scholar  of  Alexandria  in  the  third  century,  was  the 
first  to  conceive  a  harmony  of  the  Gospels,  and  in 
carrying  it  out  he  broke  up  the  text  into  K€</)aXata.  / 

Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Csesarea,  about  the  beginning 
of  the  fourth  century,  in  order  to  perfect  the 
work  of  Ammonius,  arranged  the  Gospel  narrative 
under  ten  Canons,  viz.  : — The  1st  contained  what 
is  common  to  the  four  Evangelists ;  the  2nd  to  St. 
Matthew,  St.  Mark,  and  St.  Luke;  the  3rd  to  St. 


16  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

Matthew,  St.  Luke,  and  St.  Jolm ;  the  4th  to  St. 
Matthew,  St.  Mark,  and  St.  John ;  the  5th  to  St. 
Matthew  and  St.  Lnke ;  the  6th  to  St.  Matthew  and. 
St.  Mark ;  the  7th  to  St.  Matthew  and  St.  John ; 
the  8th  to  St.  Matthew  and  6t.  Mark ;  the  9th  to 
St.  Luke  and  St.  John,  and  the  iOth  to  what  was 
peculiar  to  one  only  of  the  four.  / 

■  Another  division  was  into  tltXol  (titles),  because 
each  opened  with  a  summary  of  what  it  contained, 
and  thus  the  way  had  been  prepared  for  our  chapters. 
In  1244,  as  already  observed,  Hugo  a  Sancto  Charo, 
a  distinguished  member  of  the  Dominican  Order  in 
Paris,  and  Doctor  of  the  University  of  the  Sarbonne, 
was  raised  to  the  eminent  dignity  of  Cardinal  by 
Innocent  lY.  in  recognition  of  his  vast  Scriptural 
learning.  The  fame  he  acquired  in  this  department 
rested  chiefly  on  his  celebrated  Concordance,  based 
on  the  Vulgate.  In  this  he  grouped  under  the 
letters  of  the  alphabet,  all  the  more  important  words 
of  the  Latin  Bible,  and  every  passage  in  the  Scrip- 
ture where  they  occur.  It  was  truly  a  formidable 
undertaking ;  but  he  was  at  last  enabled  to  bring 
it  to  a  successful  issue  by  adopting  the  division  of 
the  Vulgate  into  chapters,  and  these  soon  found 
their  way  into  the  Greek  Testament.  / 

The  verses  were  comparatively  a  modem  institu- 
tion. They  appeared  for  the  first  time  in  an  edition 
of  the  Latin  Vulgate,  printed  in  1548  by  Eobert 
Etienne  (Stephen),   an    enterprising  publisher  in 


THE    SCRIPTURE    ORIGINALS. 


Paris.  Soon  after  this  he  brought  out  in  saccession, 
four  editions  of  the  Greek  Testament,  and  in  the 
fourth  he  marked  the  verses  on  the  margin,  but 
Theodore  Eeza,  Calvin's  successor  in  Geneva, 
transferred  them  into  the  body  of  the  text  of  his 
Greek  Testament,  published  in  1565.  / 

The  originals  of  the  Neiu  Testament  which  were 
written,  as  a  rule,  by  an  amanuensis  on  vellum, 
wore  away  very  soon  from  continual  use.  These 
originals  before  they  perished  were  extensively 
transcribed  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  eager  converts. 
The  copies,  therefore,  older  than  the  tenth  cen- 
tury and  in  Uncial  characters,  must  have  been  very 
numerous ;  still  not  more  than  about  sixty  have 
survived,  and  one  only  of  these  contains  the  whole 
of  thejN'ew  Testament.  This  is  the  Codex  Sinaiticus^ 
which  was  discovered  at  the  Monastery  of  St. 
Catherine,  Mt.  Sinai,  in  1859,  by  Tischendorf, 
famous  for  his  skill  in  Oriental  studies,  and  at 
his  suggestion,  the  monks  presented  it  to  the  Czar, 
Alexander  11. ,  who  deposited  the  invaluable  gift  in 
the  Eoyal  Library  of  St.  Petersburgh.  In  1862 
by  Imperial  command,  an  edition  de  luxe^  of  this 
rare  codex  was  printed  under  the  editorship  of 
Tischendorf,  who  in  his  preface  tries  to  prove  by 
exhaustive,  but  inconclusive  arguments,  its  supe- 
riority, in  point  of  age,  over  the  celebrated  "Vatican 
manuscript.  The  Codex  Sinaiticus  is  marked  by 
Eiblical  critics  for  convenience  of  reference  with 
the  letter  E,  and  B  indicates  the  Yatican  manuscript, 

B 


18  INTRODUCTION    TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

which  is  pronouiiced  by  the  weight  of  critical 
opinion,  to  have  been  made  in  the  first  half  of  the 
fourth  century  for  the  Christian  community  of 
Alexandria,  and  is  therefore  the  oldest  existing 
copy  of  the  New  Testament  Greek.  It  was 
added  to  the  treasures  of  the  Vatican  Library  by 
the  illustrious  Pontiff,  Sixtus  lY.,  towards  the  end 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  and,  though  regarded  by 
the  best  authority  to  be  the  oldest,  it  is  not  the 
most  complete,  of  the  Greek  Testament  copies.  The 
late  Cardinal  Mai,  the  most  distinguished  editor  and 
critical  scholar  of  this  (and,  perhaps,  of  any  age) 
began  to  fill  the  lacunce  in  the  Vatican  Codex,  but 
he  died  while  his  task  was  progressing,  in  1854. 
Fortunately,  Father  Vercellone  took  his  vacant  place, 
and  published  the  work  at  Eome  in  1857,  which 
was  also  printed  two  years  later  at  London  and 
Leipzig.  This,  however,  could  not  be  regarded  as 
a  faithful  reproduction  of  the  Vatican  manuscript, 
seeing  that  the  learned  editors  introduced  much  of 
what  was  their  own.  It  was  this  consideration  that 
made  the  late  Pope  Pius  IX.  employ  Fathers 
Vercellone  and  Cozza  to  superintend  the  Vatican 
Codex  as  it  was  forwarded  in  its  entirety  through 
the  Propaganda  press  in  1870.  / 

Inferior  in  antiquity  and  completeness  to  both 
the  Vatican  and  Sinaitic  Codices,  is  MS.  A  or 
Alexandrian,  as  it  is  called,  from  the  circumstance 
of  Cyril  Lucar,  the  Patriarch  of  Alexandria,  having 
presented  it  in  1G82  to  the  unfortunate  Charles  I. 


THE    SCRIPTURE    ORIGINALS.  19 

of  England,  and  it  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
The  first  twenty-four  chapters  and  first  five  verses 
of  the  twenty -fifth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel, 
together  with  some  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  and  the 
second  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  have 
dropped  out.  So  far  it  is  defective,  while  in  the 
matter  of  age  it  is  fixed  by  Montfaucon  in  the 'first 
half  of  the  fifth  century.  / 

The  Codex,  C,  or  Ephrem  in  the  Imperial  Library 
at  Paris,  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  being  one  of 
the  best  specimens  of  Palimiosest^  that  is  parchment 
or  other  similar  material,  from  which  one  writing 
had  been  rubbed  out  to  make  room  for  another. 
In  the  present  instance  the  original  Greek  text  was 
removed  for  the  works  of  St.  Ephrem,  the  Syrian. 
The  erasure,  however,  was  imperfect,  so  that  the 
first  writing,  ^>.,  the  text  of  the  !N"ew  Testament, 
re-appeared  under  the  skilful  hand  of  Tischcndorf , 
who  had  copies  of  it  printed  at  Leipzig  in  1843. 
It  contains  some  fragments  only  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  is  believed  to  belong  to  the  beginning  of 
the  fifth  century. 

There  are  two  Codices  under  the  letter  D,  one 
in  the  Library  of  Cambridge  University,  and  the 
other  in  the  Eoyal  Library  at  Paris.  Both  were 
the  gift  of  Theodore  Beza,  who  found  the  second 
in  the  Monastery  of  Clermont  in  France.  It  has 
only  the  Epistles,  and  is  not  as  old  as  the  first, 
which  is  ascribed  to  the  fifth  century,  and  contains 
the  Gospels  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  / 


^ 


CHAPTEE  II. 

VERSIOJs^S    OF   THE    OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENT. 

\  AxciENT  Versions  :  — Greek  Septuagint  Version  of  the  Old 
Testament — Its  origin,  age,  and  name — Story  of  a  mirciculous 
intervention  in  favour  of  the  Septuagint — Chiistians  have  always 
treated  the  Septuagint  with  reverence — The  Jews  gave  up  their 
religious  veneration  for  the  Septuagint  in  end  of  the  first  cen- 
tury— Origen's  celebrated  Hexaplarian  revision  of  the  Septuagint 
— This  followed  in  the  Alexandrian  Codex — Septuagint  revision 
by  St.  Xiucian,  the  Martyr — This  praised  by  St.  Jerome,  and  it  has 
sui-vived  in  the  Vatican  Codex — From  it  Sixtus  V.  (1587)  took  the 
best  edition  of  the  Septuagint  that  has  ever  been  printed — The 
Greek  of  the  Septuagint  not  pure,  and  its  literalness  varies—  The 
Septuagint  from  the  time  of  its  first  appearance  contained  the 
translation  of  every  book  in. the  Jewish  Canon — The  Septuagint 
the  best  witness  to  the  state  of  the  Old  Testament  originals — The 
Targums  or  Chaldaic  Versions — The  Comphitensian,  Royal,  Paris, 
and  London  Polyglot  Bibles — The  Peshito  or  Syriac  Version— The 
Samaritan  Version— The  Coptic  Version — The  Gothic  Version — 
Slavonic  Version — Among  the  earliest  Latin  Versions  the  Vetus 
Italica  (old  Italic)  held  the  first  place — Its  New  Testament  part,  as 
corrected  by  St.  Jerome  in  382,  is  retained  in  the  present  Latin 
Vulgate— The  Old  Testament  part  of  the  Vulgate  is  directly  trans- 
lated from  the  originals  by  St.  Jerome,  except  in  the  Psalms, 
"Wisdom,  Ecclesiasticus,  the  two  Books  of  Machabees,  Baruch  with 
its  Epistle  of  Jeremias,  and  fragments  of  Esther  and  Daniel — The 
Old  Testament  Vulgate  does  not  throw  much  light  on  the  state  of 
the  Hebrew  and  Chaldaic  originals — The  Now  Testament  Vulgate 
is  the  highest  existing  authority,  excej^t  the  Peshito,  on  the  state 
of  the  Greek  originals — Latin  Catholic  Versions  of  the  Scriptures 
from  the  sixteenth  century  down — Latin  Protestant  Versions  of 
the  Scriptures  from  the  sixteenth  century  down— Catholic  Versions 
of  the  Bible  in  modern  languages— Catholic  Version  in  Irish — The 
Douay  Bible — Protestant  Versions  of  the  Bible  in  modern  lan- 
guages— Protestant  Version  in  Irish — Protestant  Versions  in 
English— Tyndal's  Version — The  Geneva,  or  Breeches  Bible— The 
Bishop's  Bible— The  Authorized  Version— Its  recent  levision.  i 


VERSIONS    OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENT.  21 


ANCIE^^T   YEESIO^'S. 

\  The  Septuagint  Yersioi^  : — IN'early  300  years 
before  Ckrist  the  Old  Testament  Hebrew  was  trans- 
lated into  Greek  under  the  high  sanction  of  the 
Jewish  Sanhedrim,  or  Supreme  Council  of  Seventy- 
two,  whence  the  term,  Septuagint^  has  been  derived. 
On  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great  the  vast 
dominions  he  had  won  by  the  sword  were  divided 
amongst  his  four  favourite  generals.  One  of  them, 
Laomedon,  obtained  Palestine  and  Syria;  but  in  a 
short  time  he  was  expelled  by  another,  \who  became 
King  of  Egypt.  This  was  Ptolemy  Lagus,  who,  in 
his  victorious  progress  against  Laomedon,  captured 
many  prisoners  of  Jewish  nationality, .  and  carried 
them  away  into  Egypt.  These  adopted  with  such 
readiness  the  Greek  language  and  Greek  customs, 
which  prevailed  in  the  land  of  their  exile,  that  they 
came  to  be  called  Hellenist  Jews  like  their  country- 
men, who  had  settled  an.ong  the  Greek  colonies  after 
the  dissolution  of  the  Babylonish  captivity.  Owing 
to  the  fecundity  of  their  race  they  formed  so  large  a 
body  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  who 
succeeded  his  father,  Ptolemy  Lagus,  in  288  e.g., 
that  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  have  their  Sacred 
Scriptures  translated  into  the  language  of  their 
adoption.  This  he  accordingly  did,  and  the  result 
having  been  endorsed  by  the  local  Sanhedrim^  or 
Jewish    Council   of    Seventy-two,    the    Sejpiuagint 


22  INTRODUCTION   TO   THK    SACRKI)    SCRIPTURES. 

derived  its  name  and  authority  from  this  circum- 
stance. / 

There  is  a  tradition  among  the  Jews  that  this 
remarkable  Yersion  was  made  by  six  of  the  best 
Hebrew  scholars,  taken  from  each  of  the  twelve 
tribes.  They  were,  it  is  saidj  sent  by  the  High 
Priest  from  Jerusalem^  at  the  request  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus,  to  Alexandria,  where  they  accom- 
plished their  task  under  the  direct  influence  of  a 
heavenly  light*  On  their  arrival  at  one  of  the 
royal  residences  on  the  island  of  Pharos,  they  are 
represented  by  Philo,  a  Jewish  historian  of  the 
first  century,  by  St.  Justin  the  Martyr,  and  St. 
Epiphanius,  to  have  been  put  into  either  seventy- 
two  or  thirty-six  apartments,  so  separated  as  to 
render  communication  with  each  othi  r  impossible. 
After  an  interval  of  seventy-two  days  in  their 
guarded  seclusion,  the  learned,  company,  without  a 
single  exception,  announced  the  close  of  their 
anxious  labours,  and  on  meeting  together  to  com- 
pare notes,  they  were  startled  to  find  amongst  all 
an  agreement  even  to  the  very  ktter.  But,  this 
story  of  a  miraculous  intervention  in  i'avour  of  the 
Septuagint  is  not  believed  as  a  rule,  and,  therefore, 
the  notion,  based  upon  it,  of  its  authors  being 
divinely  assisted,  which  seems  to  have  been  accepted 
by  St.  Augustine  among  the  Lai  in  Fathers,  by  St. 
Irenaius,  St.  Justin  the  Martyr,  and  otiicrs  among 
the  Greek  Fathers,  has  long  since  been  given  up. 


VERSIONS   OF    THE    OLD   AND    NEW   TESTAMENT.  23 

That  a  special  proYidence  of  God,  however,  watched 
over  its  origin  and  progress  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
Hebrew  was  then  so  little  known  that  the  prophecies 
pointing  to  the  corning  of  the  Messiah  in  the  near 
future  could  not  become  generally  known  unless 
through  the  medium  of  a  Greek  version  of  the  Old 
Testament  Eooks.  It  is  to  be  observed  that 
our  Blessed  Lord  and  the  Apostles  commonly 
appealed  to  the  Septuagint  when  addressing  the 
people,  and  the  earliest  defenders  of  the  faith 
drew  from  it  their  most  crushing  arguments. 
Indeed  no  sooner  had  the  invincible  Eoman  legions 
planted  their  rule  and  language  on  the  ruins  of  the 
great  Macedonian  empire,  than  the  foremost  of  the 
numerous  Latin  translations  (the  Yetus  Itala)  was 
taken  word  for  word  from  the  Septuagint.  Surely, 
then,  it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  the  finger 
of  God  should  be  recognised  in  this  Yersion  by 
Christians  generally,  and  Catholics  in  particular,  in 
every  age./ 

The  Jews  themselves  regarded  the  Septuagint  with 
religious  veneration,  for  Philo  Judseus,  their  learned 
historian  at  Alexandria,  describes,  in  his  ^'Life  of 
Moses,"  the  enthusiastic  demonstration  made  by  his 
countrymen  in  honour  of  the  Septuagint  every  year 
in  the  island  of  Pharos.  He  wrote  in  the  first 
century,  but  not  long  after  this,  the  object  of  their 
joy  was  turned  into  a  source  of  mourning.  The 
Septuagint  contained  those  passages  from  the  Pro- 


24  IXTRODUCTIOX   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

phets,  which  pointed  unmistakably  to  Jesus  as  the 
promised  Messias.  The  Jews,  therefore,  denounced 
the  Septuagint  as  a  gross  misrepresentation  of  the 
originals.  They  even  went  so  far  as  to  declare  its 
existence  the  greatest  calamity  that  befel  their 
nation,  and  to  atone  for  this  they  ordered  the 
Hebrew  text  to  be  read  for  the  future  in  the 
Synagogues,  and  the  anniversary  of  the  issue  of  the 
Septuagint  to  be  kept  as  a  day  of  Jewish  fasting  and 
repentance.  They  hoped  that  among  the  strenuous 
advocates  of  the  Christian  religion  there  was  not  even 
one  sufficiently  skilled  in  the  knowledge  of  Hebrew 
to  be  able  to  detect  their  imputation  on  the  Septua- 
gint. But  their  hopes  were  not  realized.  Their 
malice  was  soon  exposed,  and  by  none  more  ably 
than  Or i gen  in  his  celebrated  dialogue  with  Tryphon, 
the  Jew.  This  timely  publication  of  their  guilt  was 
a  triumphant  proof  of  how  the  Jews  appreciated  and 
feared  the  high  character  of  the  Septuagint,  for 
they  would  never  have  adopted  such  foul  means 
to  destroy  its  reputation,  if  it  had  been  always 
under  their  ban.  / 

The  eminent  position  which  the  Sepluagint  thus 
occupied  among  Jews  and  Christians  caused  it 
to  be  transcribed  extensively.  It  was  to  rid  the 
Septuagint  text  of  the  differences  between  it  and  its 
many  copies,  as  well  as  to  prove  the  genuineness 
of  its  prophetical  passages,  which  sustained  the 
truth   of   the    Christian    arguments,    that   Origcn 


VERSIONS    OF    THE    OLD    AND    NhW    TESTAMENT.  25 

compared    it     with     the     oldest     copies    of     the 
Hebrew   originals.      The    result  was    a   work   of 
gigantic  proportions  in  fifty  volumes,   which   for 
twenty-eight  years  severely  taxed  Origen's  intel- 
lectual   and    physical    powers.      In    six    parallel 
columns  (e^airXovs)  he  placed  first  the  Hebrew  text, 
then  a  transcript  of  that  text  in  Greek  characters, 
followed  by  the   Septuagint  text  itseK,   and   the 
Greek  Yer.-ions  of  Aquila,  Symmachus,  and  Theo- 
dotion.     By  the  aid  of  these  standards  of  correction, 
to  which  he  added  in  the  course  of  the  work,  three 
anonymous  Greek  Versions,  thus  bringing  up  the 
number  of  columns  to  nine  (cwcaTrXa),  the  common 
text  of  the  Septuagint  was  most  rigidly  revised. 
In  some  places,  links  from  the  Hebrew  originals 
had  been  found  missing,  and  these  Origen  supplied 
in  the  Septuagint,  mostly  from  the  Greek  Version  of 
Theodotion,  by  writing  them  over  where  they  ought 
to  be,  with  an  asterisk.     But  any  word  or  words 
not  to  be  found  in  the  Hebrew  and  in  the  Septua- 
gint was  simply  indicated  there  by  an  obelisk.     The 
result  Origen  enriched  with  most  exhaustive  mar- 
ginal notes,  explaining  the  Hebrew  names,  as  well 
as  the  different  readings  in  the  Samaritan,  Hebrew, 
and  Syriac   manuscripts.     This  is   the   celebrated 
Hexapta,  which  was  deposited  in   the  library  of 
Csesarea,  and  there  copied  by  the  learned  Bishop 
and  historian,  Eusebius,  with  the  assistance  of  one 
of  his  priests,  the  accomplished  Pamphilius,  who 


26  IXTRODUCTIOX   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

afterwards  won  tlie  Martyr's  crown.  This  copy  was 
all  of  the  Hexapla  that  escaped  the  flames  when 
Csesarea  was  burned  in  653  by  the  Saracens.  Even 
it,  as  a  whole,  has  been  lost;  but  the  fragments 
have  been  collected  and  printed  by  the  celebrated 
Montfaucon  in  2  vols.,  foL,  Paris,  1784./ 

A  much  more  perfect  revision  of  the  Septuagint 
than  this  of  Origen,  was  one  made  by  St.  Lucian,  a 
priest  of  Antioch,  who  suffered  martyrdom  in  a.d. 
311.  St.  Jerome  gives  his  opinion  to  this  effect 
very  freely  in  his  letter  to  Suria  and  Fretela,  and 
in  this  he  is  joined  by  modern  critics.  This  excel- 
lent revision  has  survived  in  the  Vatican  Codex  or 
MS.  B.,  from  which  the  best  edition  of  the  Septua- 
gint was  printed  in  1587  at  Eome.  This  is  the 
Sixtine  edition,  so  called  because  it  was  executed  at 
the  expense,  and  with  the  approbation  of  Pope  Sixtus 
y.,  who  engaged  the  services  of  the  most  able 
Biblical  scholars.  The  Septuagint  which  has  come 
down  in  the  Alexandrian  Codex,  or  MS.  A.,  follows 
closely  the  Ilexapla  of  Origen,  and  upon  it  Grabbe, 
a  distinguished  Oxford  professor,  based  his  printed 
edition  in  1720.  \ 

The  Greek  of  the  Septuagint  is  not  at  all  pure. 
It  is,  like  that  of  the  New  Testament,  colonial  Greek, 
and  it  is  also  diluted  with  some  Coptic  words  in  Greek 
dress,  which  show  its  Egyptian  origin.  Then  the 
first  five  books,  or  the  Pentateuch,  are  a  very  faithful 
translation ;  but  in  the  rest  its  literalness  varies  a 


VERSIONS   OF   THE    OLD   AND    NEW    TESTAMENT.  27 

good  deal.  From  this  circumstance  some  infer  tliat 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus  had  only  the  Pentateuch  trans- 
lated. But  this  surmise  is  not  of  much  account,  since 
the  author  of  the  Greek  translation  of  Ecclesiasticus 
states  in  his  preface,  that  when  he  began  his  work 
every  other  book  in  the  Jewish  Canon  was  already 
in  Greek,  and  he  lived  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy 
Evergetes,  the  immediate  successor  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus.  As  a  witnesss,  however,  to  the 
state  of  the  Old  Testament  originals  the  Septuagint 
Version  is  incomparably  the  best.  It  can  give  evi- 
dence of  how  the  Hebrew  text  stood  nearly  300 
years  before  the  Christian  era,  while  no  existing 
Hebrew  manuscript  is  older  than  the  ninth  century./ 

The  'J'argums: — The  next  best  witness  in  this 

respect   is    furnished    by   the    Targums^    that    is 

the  Chaldaic  Versions,  which  became  necessary  for 

the  Jews,  after  they  had  lost  the  original  Hebrew 

tongue,  and  adopted  the  Chaldee  in  the  Babylonish 

captivity.     Eleven  or  twelve  of  these  Targums  are 

known  to  Biblical  scholars,  who  give  the  first  place 

to  that  of  OnJcelos,     This  favourite  Targum  has  been 

printed  with  some  few  others  of  inferior  authority 

in  the  Pohjglot  Bibles^  which  owe  their  institution 

to  the  illustrious  Cardinal  Ximenes,  Archbishop  of 

Toledo  in  Spain,  and  founder  of  the  University  of 

Alcala  De  Henares.    It  was  in  1502  he  conceived  the 

idea  of  the  Complutensian  Polyglot,  so  called  from 

Complutum^  the  Latia  name  for  Alcala  De  Henares, 


28  INTRODUCTIOX   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

and  having  surrounded  himself  with  the  most  ancient 
manuscripts,  and  assisted  by  the  best  talent  to  be 
found  for  the  purpose,  he  watched  and  directed  its 
progress  for  fifteen  years.  The  total  expenditure 
incurred  in  this  noble  undertaiN!:ing  amounted  to 
nearly  £40,000.  It  was  published  in  1517,  and 
contains,  together  with  the  Hebrew  text,  the  Septua- 
gint  Greek,  and  the  Chaldee,  each  with  a  literal  Latin 
translation,  as  well  as  the  text  of  the  Latin  Yulgate. 
This  splendid  conception,  and  still  more  splendid 
result,  sprang  from  a  genuine  love  of  sacred  learning, 
and  evoked  the  admiration  of  the  literary  and  religious 
world.  It  roused  others  to  a  still  greater  effort  in 
the  same  direction,  for  in  the  year  1569  Chistopher 
Plantin,  the  proprietor  of  a  fine  printing  establish- 
ment in  Antwerp,  resolved  to  bring  out  a  Polyglot 
Bible  on  a  much  more  extensive  scale  than  the 
Complutensian.  He  wrote  to  his  sovereign,  Philip 
II.  of  Spain,  for  patronage  and  support.  The  king 
not  only  responded  with  a  munificent  donation,  but 
sent  the  learned  Spaniard  Benedict  Arias  Montanus 
to  preside  over  the  editorial  staff.  The  work, 
therefore,  received  the  title  of  JRo?/al,  and  was 
published  in  1572  in  eight  folio  volumes.  It  has 
the  Hebrew,  the  Greek,  the  Targum  of  Onkelos, 
the  other  Chaldaic  paraphrases,  and  the  Latin 
Yulgate  in  the  Old  Testament,  together  with  the 
Greek,  Latin,  and  a  Syriac  version,  printed  both  in 
Syriac  and  Hebrew  characters  in  the  New  Testa- 


VERSIONS    OF    THE    OLD    AXD    NEW    TESTAMENT.  29 

ment.  !N" early  a  hundred  years  passed,  leaving  the 
Eoyal  Polyglot  without  a  rival,  when  a  distin- 
guished Orientalist,  and  profound  Biblical  student, 
Gui  Michel  Le  Jay,  determined  to  gratify  his 
tastes  by  devoting  his  large  fortune  and  extensive 
learning  to  produce,  what  he  called,  the  Paris 
Poluglot.  It  appeared  in  1645  in  ten  folio  volumes, 
containing  everything  in  the  Eoyal  Polyglot,  and 
in  addition,  another  Syriac  Version  and  an  Arabic 
Yersion,  together  with  the  Samaritan  Version,  and 
the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  each  accompanied  with 
a  literal  translation.  The  last  but  not  the  least  of 
the  four  great  Polyglot  Bibles  was  edited  by  Brian 
Walton,  the  learned  Bishop  of  Chester.  It  is  called 
the  London  Polyglot  because  it  was  published  at 
London  in  1645,  and  contains  a  good  part  of  the 
Bible  in  nine  languages,  viz. : — Hebrew,  Greek, 
Latin,  Samaritan,  Chaldaic,  Syriac,  Arabic,  Ethiop- 
ian and  Persian.  \ 

The  Samaritan  Version  : — The  third  place 
among  the  Witnesses  to  the  state  of  the  Hebrew 
originals  is  accorded  to  the  Samaritan  Version.  It 
belongs  to  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era, 
and  is  a  literal  translation  of  the  Samaritan  Pen- 
tateuch^ which  has  been  fully  noticed,  l^ext  is  the 
famous  Syriac  Version  Peschito.  It  is  taken  literally 
from  the  Septuagint  in  the  Old  and  from  the  Greek 
originals  in  the  !N'ew  Testament,  and  is  marked 
thus: — "This  translation  was  finished  in  the  year 


30  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

of   the  Greeks,    389,    by   the   hand   of    Achseus, 
the   Apostle."    According   to   this   inscription  St. 
Thaddaeus  or  Jude,  who  evangelized  Syria,  was  the 
author  of   this  translation,    which   certainly   goes 
back   to  his  time.     Such  is  the  tradition  of   the 
Syrians  themselves,  and  it   is   borne   out   by  the 
arguments    of    Cardinal   Wiseman    in    his    Horce 
Syriacce,     The  Apocalypse  and  four  of  the  Epistles 
are  wanting  in  it,  because  their  canonical  autho- 
rity  was   not    commonly   known,    or    universally 
acknowledged  at  the  time  this  version  was  made. 
A   splendid  edition  of  it  was   printed   at   Vienna 
in   1555   with  the   assistance    of   a   distinguished 
Maronite  priest,  who  had  visited  Eome  with  the 
object  of  presenting  to  the  Chair  of  Peter  in  the 
person  of  Julius  III.  the  allegiance  of  the  Maronite 
Christians.  \ 

The  Coptic  Version  : — St.  Anthony  was  a  young 
man,  living  in  affluent  circumstances  in  Upper 
Egypt,  when  he  determined  to  leave  all  and  go 
among  the  Anchorites  in  the  desert,  where  he  became 
the  founder  of  Monasticism.  The  resolution  came 
to  him  one  Sunday  at  Mass  from  hearing  this  pointed 
text  read  in  the  Gospel  of  the  day : — '^  If  thou  wilt 
be  perfect,  go  sell  what  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the 
poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven,  and 
come,  follow  me ' '  (Matt.  xix.  21).  Now,  these  words 
must  have  been  read  in  Coptic,  for  it  is  recorded  of 
St.  Anthony,  by  his  biographer,  Paccomius,  that  he 


VERSIONS   OP   THE    OLD   AND    NEW   TESTAMENT.  31 

knew  no  otlier  language.  This  occurred  in  the  year 
270,  so  that  the  Egyptian  Version  of  the  Bible  must 
have  been  in  use  long  before  that  time.  It  is  there- 
fore among  the  oldest  of  the  ancient  versions,  and 
one  of  the  most  reliable,  for  in  the  Old  Testament  it 
is  a  faithful  rendering  of  the  Septuagint,  while  the 
IN'ew  Testament  part  is  a  direct  and  scrupulous 
translation  of  the  originals.  The  Ethiopian  and 
Armenian  versions,  which  are  set  down  to  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  are  also  taken  from 
the  Septuagint  and  I^ew  Testament  originals,  and  a 
beautiful  edition  of  the  latter  has  been  printed  in 
1816  in  the  Armenian  Convent  at  Venice.  / 

The  Gothic  Version  : — Back  in  that  early 
period,  when  the  waves  of  migration  from 
distant  Asia  inundated  Europe,  the  Goths  came 
and  settled  on  the  Danube.  Here  they  expanded 
into  Ostrogoths  and  Visigoths,  so  powerful  as  to 
tax  all  the  resources  of  Constantine,  the  Great, 
to  annex  them  to  his  empire.  Soon  after  their 
conversion  to  Christianity,  Uphilas,  one  of  their 
bishops,  in  turning  the  whole  Bible  into  their 
native  tongue,  produced  a  scrupulous  rendering  of 
the  original  Greek  of  the  ]N'ew  and  of  the  Septuagint 
in  the  Old  Testament.  Time  has  also  made  inroads 
upon  it,  which  have  been  repaired  by  the  famous 
Cardinal  Mai,  who  discovered  many  of  the  missing 
parts  in  the  library  at  Milan.  The  four  Gospels 
of  this  version,  in  tolerable  preservation,  and  called 


32  INTRODUCTION    TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

the  silver  manuscript^  because  written  in  silver 
letters,  are  still  preserved  in  the  library  of  Upsal 
in  Sweden. 

The  Slavonic  Yersiox: — The  Slavs,  like  the 
Goths,  in  the  wandering  of  the  hnman  race  from  its 
home  in  remote  Asia,  settled  in  the  [N'orth  of  Europe, 
where  they  became  the  founders  of  the  Eussian  people. 
In  the  ninth  century  this  powerful  nation  was  con- 
verted to  Christianity  by  the  preaching  of  Saints 
Cyril  and  Methodius,  two  brothers,  who  were  invited 
thither  by  the  King  of  Bulgaria.  These  holy 
missioners,  to  render  the  work  in  which  they  were 
engaged  abiding  and  fruitful,  translated  into  the 
Slavonic  tongue,  the  Old  Testament  from  the 
Scptuagint  and  the  IN^ew  Testament  from  its  original 
Greek.  It  is  greatly  admired  for  its  fidelity  and 
has  been  often  printed.  / 

The  Latin  Vijlgate  : — At  the  outset  of  Christi- 
anity, Eome  ruled  a  vast  empire  in  the  East  and 
West.  The  Greek,  which  had  been  diffused  first  by 
colonization  from  Greece,  and  then  by  the  victories 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  lingered  for  a  time  among 
the  conquered  races.  Soon,  however,  the  knoAvledge 
of  Greek  began  to  fade,  and  then  arose  the  need  of  a 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  language  of 
the  Eoman  conquerors.  A  large  number  of  Latin 
translations  came  forth,  and  among  them  there  was 
one,  made  from  the  Scptuagint  in  the  Old  and  from 
the  Greek  originals  in  the  JS'ew  Testament,  which 


VERSIONS    OF   THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENT.  33 

St.  Augustine  pointed  out  as  the  favourite,  because 
"to  perspicuity  it  joined  a  more  literal  rendering  of 
the  words."  He  speaks  of  it,  in  his  book  on 
Christian  Doctrine,  as  Itala  or  Itallca^  because  in 
common  use  throughout  the  Italian  Churches.  It  is 
generally  believed  to  have  been  a  revision  of  a  very 
superior  one,  mentioned  by  Tertullian  (ISO)  as 
existing  in  Africa  in  his  time,  and  made  there 
shortly  before,  probably  not  by  one  person,  but  by 
many.  Its  fame  spread  to  Italy,  where  it  was 
revised,  and  continued  to  gain  in  popularity  year 
after  year,  and  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  in  a.d.  600, 
mentions  it  as  the  Vetus  Italica.  / 

St.  Jerome  came  of  noble  family,  in  Dalmatia,  in 
331,  and  because  of  his  great  thirst  for  learning,  he 
was  sent  by  his  father  to  Eome,  that  he  might 
have  the  benefit  of  the  best  masters  in  Latin, 
Ehetoric,  and  Philosophy.  While  yet  young,  he  felt 
disgusted  with  the  pleasures  of  Eoman  society,  and 
being  received  into  the  Christian  Church,  he  resolved 
to  retire  from  the  world,  and  devote  himself  exclu- 
sively to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  With  this 
object  he  buried  himself,  about  374,  in  the  burning 
desert  of  Chalcis,  in  Syria,  where  he  spent  four 
years  pursuing  his  favourite  studies,  living  a  life  of 
great  austerity.  In  this  desert,  under  the  tuition 
of  another  recluse,  converted  from  Judaism,  St. 
Jerome  acquired  a  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and 
Chaldaic,     which     he     afterwards     perfected     at 


34  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

Eethlehem  by  similar  assistance.  His  solitude 
was  so  invaded  in  379  that  lie  left;  received 
priest's  orders  in  Antioch,  and  then  went  on  to 
Constantinople,  where  he  spent  three  years  in 
mastering  the  Greek  language,  enjoying  at  the 
same  time  the  society  of  St.  Gregory  IS'azianzen. 
Happening  to  come  to  Eome  in  382  on  a  mission, 
connected  with  the  Miletian  Schism,  he  was 
received  with  much  attention  by  the  learned 
Pope,  Damasus,  who  made  him  his  secretary  and 
read  the  Scriptures  with  him.  After  some  experi- 
ence of  St.  Jerome's  profound  Scriptural  learning, 
the  Holy  Father  begged  him  to  undertake  what  he, 
the  Pope,  had  long  at  heart,  and  what  was  then 
sorely  needed  by  the  Church,  namely,  to  purge  the 
old  Italic  of  those  defects,  which  began  in  the 
translation,  and  increased  in  the  copying.  Thus, 
the  Sovereign  Pontiff  would  be  in  a  position  to 
secure  uniformity  of  quotation  from  the  Gospels,  on 
the  part  of  those  engaged  in  championing  the  faith 
against  the  Aiians.  This  wish  of  the  Yicar  of 
Christ  St.  Jerome  regarded  as  a  command.  In  a 
comparatively  short  time  he  corrected  the  Gospels 
in  the  old  Itala  by  comparing  them  with  the  Greek 
originals,  and  in  a  dedication  to  the  Pope,  he  says  : 
*^  I  have  corrected  those  words  onhj  which  seem  to 
^'  affect  the  sense  of  the  originals,  and  let  the  others 
"  stand,  that  the  Latin  text  to  which  the  people  are 
"accustomed    might   not  be  altered  too  much." 


VERSIONS   OF   THE    OLD    AND   NEW  TESTAMENT.  35 

The  Pope  was  so  pleased  with  this  result,  that  St. 
Jerome,  to  gratify  him  still  more,  revised  the  whole 
of  the  New  Testament  in  the  old  Latin  Version  on 
the  same  plan  as  set  forth  in  his  dedication  above 
quoted.  Turning  his  attention  then  to  the  Psalms 
in  the  Vetus  Itala  he  corrected  them  according  to 
the  KOLv-q  or  St.  Lucian's  common  edition  of  the 
Septuagint.  This  is  the  Eoman  Psalter,  because 
made  for  the  use  of  the  clergy  in  Eome  at  the 
Pontiff's  request.  It  was,  however,  done  hastily 
so  that  on  returning  to  his  hermitage  at  Beth- 
lehem, upon  the  death  of  Pope  Damasus,  St. 
Jerome  at  once  set  to  work  and  produced  the 
best  revision  he  could  of  .the  Latin  Psalter  by 
collating  it  with  Origen's  Hexapla.  This  is 
now  what  is  in  the  Vulgate,  and  it  is  called 
the  Galilean  Psalter,  from  the  fact  of  its  having 
been  introduced  into  Gaul  by  St.  Gregory,  of 
Tours./ 

In  the  rest  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  St.  Jerome 
did  not  consider  the  Latin  Version  before  him,  that 
is  the  old  Italic,  remarkable  for  its  accuracy,  he  put 
it  aside,  and  beginning  with  the  Kings,  made  a 
direct  translation  into  Latin  of  all  the  Proto -canonical 
books  in  the  Old  Testament  from  their  HebreAv 
originals,  which  was  duly  published  with  his  famous 
Helmet  preface  (Prologus  galeatiis).  He  did  the 
same  in  reference  to  the  Chaldaic  originals  of  Judith 
and  Tobias,  as  well  as  the  Chaldaic  parts  of  Esdras 


db  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPrURES. 

and  Daniel,  bnt  his  translation  of  the  Dentoro- 
Canonical  portions  of  Esther  was  from  the  Greek  of 
the  Septuagint,  and  of  the  Deutoro-Canonical  portions 
of  Daniel  from  the  Greek  of  Theodotion.  Wisdom, 
Ecclesiasticus,  the  two  books  of  Machabees,  the 
Prophecy  of  Baruch,  with  its  united  Epistle  of 
Jeremias,  he  did  not  touch,  so  that  their  Latin  text 
in  the  Yulgate  is  that  of  the  old  Italic  Version. 
The  outcome  of  these  labours  was  the  Latin 
Vulgate^  which  is  truly  a  noble  monument  of 
the  perfection  with  which  St.  Jerome  mastered  the 
original  languages  of  the  Bible.  Still,  the  Church 
in  the  beginning  was  very  slow  to  adopt  it,  lest  the 
novelty  might  offend  the  faithful  who  were  accus- 
tomed to  the  words  of  the  Vetus  Italica.  Little  by 
little,  however,  this  timidity  disappeared  until  the 
Vulgate  took  possession  of  the  whole  field,  vacated 
by  the  old  Latin  Version.  / 

As  a  translation,  the  Old  Testament  part  of  the 
Vulgate  was  a  marvellous  performance  on  the  part 
of  St.  Jerome.  It  does  not,  however,  throw  much 
light  on  the  state  of  the  Hebrew  originals,  for  the 
copies  of  these  from  which  St.  Jerome  made  his 
Latin  translation  could  not  go  back  very  far.  Much 
higher  in  this  matter  of  critical  value  is  the  character 
of  the  New  Testament  Vulgate^  because  the  Vetus 
Italica  (old  Latin)  has  been  retained  there,  and  Dr. 
Westcott,  an  eminent  Protestant  authority,  says  : — 
"  This  translation  was  fixed  and  current  more  than 


VERSIONS    OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENT.  37 

''  a  century  before  the  transcription  of  the  oldest 
'^  Greek  manuscript.  Thus  it  is  a  witness  to  a 
'^  text  more  ancient  and,  cateris  payihus^  more  valu- 
^^able  than  is  represented  by  any  other  authority, 
"  unless  the  J^^^Mo  in  its  present  form  be  excepted." 
This  old  Latin  text  was  corrected  by  St.  Jerome  in 
producing  his  l^ew  Testament  Yulgate,  by  consult- 
ing Greek  copies,  dating  not  only  beyond  the  fourth 
century,  when  he  lived,  but  beyond  any  manuscript 
of  the  Greek  Testament  at  present  existing,  seeing 
that  not  one  has  been  found  older  than,  and  two 
only  as  old  as,  the  fourth  century.  / 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  and  later,  some  CatholicSr 
skilled  in  the  ancient  languages  of  the  Scripture, 
produced  a  few  Latin  Versions  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  from  the  Hebrew,  Chaldaic,  and  Greek 
originals.  This  was  done  in  regard  to  the  whole 
Eible,  in  1527,  by  Sanctes  Pagninus,  head  of  the 
Yatican  Library.  His  work  was  revised  in  1572  by 
Arias  Montanus,  a  learned  Spaniard,  and  its 
faithfulness  secured  for  it  a  place  in  the  London 
Polyglot.  Then  followed  at  intervals  Father 
Houbigant's  Latin  translation  of  the  Old  Testament, 
sida  by  side  with  his  Hebrew  text ;  Father  "Weite- 
nauer's  Old  and  !N'ew  Testament  in  Latin,  and  in 
the  same  language  the  IN'ew  Testament  alone,  which 
its  author,  the  celebrated  Erasmus,  dedicated  to 
Pope  Leo  X.  During  the  same  time,  Protestants, 
eminent  for  their  oriental  learning,  turned  either  the 


38  INTRODUCTOX   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

Old  or  the  New  Testament,  or  both,  into  Latin  from 
the  Hebrew,  Chaldaic,  and  Greek.  These  men 
proudly  boasted  of  adhering  strictly  to  the  ancient 
text,,  while  in:  reality  they  made  the  originals  bend 
to  their  own-  sectarian  views.  Such  was  the  Latin 
Yersion  of  the  Old  Testament  by  Sebastian  Munster, 
in  1534,  and  still  more  that  of  Leo  Juda,  a  prominent 
Zuinglian,  in  1543..  Two  years  after  the  latter 
appeared,  Yatable,  a  distinguished  Hebrew  scholar, 
enriched  it  with  notes  of  great  critical  yalue,  and 
with  these  it  was  brought  out  as  a  second  edition 
by  Etienne,  (Stephen)  of  Paris.  In  1789, 
Professor  Dathe,  of  Leipzic,  published  a  Latin 
translation  of  the  Old  Testament  originals,  and  so 
did  Junius  and  Tremellius  at  an  earlier  date,  lioth 
are  in  favour  with  Protestants,  but  not  to  the  same 
extent  as  the  Latin  Version  of  the  New  Testament 
by  Theodore  Beza,  who  became  spiritual  head  of  the 
Galvinists  on  the  death  of  their  founder.  He  has. 
However,  notoriously  perverted  the  sense  of  the 
original  Greek,  to  season  his  Latin  for  the  Calvin- 
istic  palate./ 

Versions  of  the  Bible  in  Modern  Languages: — 
For  about  a  hundred  years  before  the  Eeformation, 
German  Catholics  had  the  Bible  more  than  once 
translated  into  their  own  language.  Their  Bishops 
at  present  recommend  the  German  Version  of 
AUioli,  which  is  very  faithfully  rendered  word  for 
word  from  the  Latin  Vulgate  and  is  furnished  with 


YERSIOXS   OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW   TESTAMENT.  39 


very  fine  explanatory  notes.  It  appeared  in  1830. 
So  too  in  French  there  are  many  Catholic  yersions, 
dating  so  far  back  as  1294 ;  bnt  the  latest  and 
best  is  that  published  with  excellent  notes  in 
1861,  by  the  Abb^  Glaire,  who  has  faitlifuUy 
rendered  the  text  of  the  Latin  Yulgate.  In  Italy, 
of  all  the  Catholic  Yersions,  the  one  that  holds  the 
highest  place  was  translated  literally  from  the  "Vul- 
gate, in  1779,  by  Anthony  Martini,  Archbishop  of 
Florence,  who  has  also  added  valuable  notes.  The 
Spanish  Catholics  have  a  favourite  Yersion  on 
the  same  plan,  by  Don  Felipe  de  San  Miguel, 
published  in  1793,  and  the  Portuguese  one  by 
Antonio  Pereira,  which  appeared  in.  1781,  while 
the  Belgian  or  Dutch  Catholics  have  the  Yersion 
of  Nicholas  Yan  Winghe,  printed  in  Louvain 
so  early  as  1548.  In  short,  there  is  no  Catholic 
country  without  its  native  Yersion  of  the  Scriptures, 
approved  and  circulated  by  Episcopal  authority. 
In  the  sweet  and  expressive  language  of  holy  Ireland 
there  is  a  Catholic  Bible,  as  old  as  1347,  which 
emanated,  as  is  supposed,  from  the  pen  of  Eichard 
Fitz-Ealph,  Archbishop  of  Armagh.  Dr.  MacHale, 
the  late  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  was  actually  engaged 
in  correcting  the  old  Irish  translation  according  to 
the  Latin  Yulgate;  but  failing  health  prevented  the 
completion  of  the  undertaking.  English-speaking 
Catholics  all  use  the  Douay  Bible,  It  is  an  English 
translation,  made  directly  from  the  Yulgate,  in  the 


40  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

English  College  at  Eheims,  in  France,  about  1582  ; 
but  as  the  Old  Testament  part  was  not  published  until 
1610,  in  the  English  College  at  Douay,  the  whole 
has  got  the  name  of  the  Douay  Bible,  Dr.  Challoner, 
Catholic  Bishop  of  London,  revised  it  in  1750,  and 
the  Catholic  hierarchy  of  Ireland  soon  circulated  it 
amongst  their  flocks.  Th3  Catholic  Eishops 
of  America  adopted  it  in  1810,  and  Scrivener,  the 
learned  Protestant  editor,  in  his  supplement  to  the 
Authorized  Protestant  Version^  says  that  '^  the  Douay 
translation  is  highly  commendable  for  its  scrupulous 
accuracy  and  fidelity  P/ 

Protestants,  as  soon  as  they  parted  from  the  rock 
of  Peter,  initiated  their  grand  doctrine  of  every 
man  being  his  own  teacher  in  religion,  by  turning  the 
Scriptures  into  every  modern  language,  from  secon- 
dary and  adulterated  sources  like  the  Latin  of 
Theodore  Beza,  and  not  scrupulously,  as  they 
pretended,  from  the  originals.  Thus,  Luther,  in 
his  famous  German  Bible  of  1532,  shows  but  a 
very  imperfect  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  Greek, 
though  he  boasts  of  having  drawn  straight  from 
these  fountains.  In  1629,  Dr.  Bedell,  Protestant 
Bishop  of  Kilmore  and  Ardagh,  had  the  Old  Testa- 
ment translated  into  Irish  by  a  Mr.  Xing,  who  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  the  original  languages,  with 
which  it  is  stated  to  have  been  compared  by  Bedell 
himself;  but  in  some  places  only.  The  New 
Testament  of  this  Irish  Protestant  Bible  had  been 


VERSIONS    OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENT.  41 


previously  produced  by  a  Protestant  Archbishop  of 
Tuam,  Dr.  William  Daniel.     In  French,  the  Protes- 
tant Version  most  in  repute  is  by  Beausobre,  printed 
in  1718,  and  in  Italian,  the  one  by  Diodati  is  bit- 
terly flavoured  with  Protestantism.     The  apostate, 
William  Tyndale,  in  1526,  became  the  author  of  the 
first  Yersion  in  English  of  the  IN'ew,  and  part  only 
of  the  Old  Testament.      It  was,   however,  full  of 
wilful  corruptions,  and  these  were  well  exposed  at 
the  time  by  Sir  Thomas  More,  the  learned  Chancellor 
of  England.     The  whole  Bible  in  English,  by  Miles 
Coverdale,  Protestant  Bishop  of  Exeter,  was  printed 
in  1535;    but  is  considered  inferior  to  Tyndale' s 
effort.      Then    came   the    well-known    Geneva   or 
Breeches  Bihle^  which  was  the  joint  production  of 
Gilby,  Whittingham,  perhaps  John  Knox,  and  other 
prominent  divines  of  the  Puritan  stamp,  who,  when 
the  Catholic,    Queen  Mary,  came  to  the  throne  of 
England,  fled  to  the  more  congenial  atmosphere  of 
their   Calvinistic    centre    in    Switzerland.      It    is 
saturated  with  Swiss  Protestantism,  and  derives  its 
most  familiar  name  from  the  rendering  it  gives  of 
Genesis  iii.  7,  to  this  effect  : — ^'  Then  the  eyes  of 
them  both  were  opened,  and  they  knew  that  they 
were  naked,  and  they  sewed  fig-tree  leaves  together, 
and  made  themselves  breeches y     The  Bishoph  Bihle^ 
brought  out  in  1568,  got  its  title  from  being  the 
work  of  eight  Protestant  Bishops,  who,  with  the 
assistance   of   other   scholars,   executed  their  com- 


42  INTRODUCTION    TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

mission  by  command  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
under  the  superintendence  of  Matthew  Parker, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  Authorized  Versmi 
is  the  one  which  has  been  acknowledged  in  the 
Church  of  England  for  more  than  the  last  two 
centuries  and  a  half.  "When  King  James  I.  ascended 
the  Throne  of  England,  an  address  was  presented  to 
his  Majesty  by  the  clergy  of  Lincoln  diocese,  who 
declared  among  other  things,  that  '^the  English 
Versions  in  common  use  were  absurd  and  senseless, 
perverting  in  many  places  the  sense  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  In  consequence  of  this  and  other  such  repre- 
sentations, the  King  ordered  fifty-four  of  the  most 
eminent  divines  from  Oxford  and  Cambridge  to 
produce  a  new  Version  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
Testaments.  Four  years  were  devoted  to  the  task, 
and  the  outcome  was  the  present  Authorized  Pro- 
testant Version^  which  received  the  Eoyal  sanction 
in  1605.  It  is  the  Version  appointed  by  the  Cro^Ti 
to  be  used  in  all  the  Churches  belonging  to  the 
English  communion,  so  that  no  Anglican  clergyman 
can  ase  any  other  in  public  worship.  From  it  alone, 
and  in  conformity  with  it,  is  taken  the  formidable 
array  of  Scripture  Versions,  issued  in  almost  all  the 
different  languages  and  dialects  of  the  world,  by  the 
Biblical  Societies  in  England.  This  Authorised 
Version,  after  the  long  interval  of  over  260  years, 
was  lately  revised  by  a  learned  company,  under 
the  presidency  of  Dr.  Ellicott,  Protestant  Bishop  of 


VEUSIOXS   OF   THE    OLD   AND   NEW    TESTAMENT.  43 

Gloucester  and  Bristol.  These  distinguislied  scholars 
devoted  ten  years  to  their  arduous  work,  and  some 
of  their  corrections,  like  the  lew  mentioned  in 
another  chapter,  are  in  harmony  with  the  Catholic 
Yulgate.  / 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  AXD  ANTI-CATHOLIC  SYSTEMS. 
m  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  BIBLE. 

Christ  constituted  His  Church  CatJwUc — TnfallihiUly  of  the 
Catholic  Church — St.  Peter's  personal  infalliUliiy — St.  Peter's 
primacy  of  honour  and  jurisdiction — These  prerogatives  of  St.  Peter 
passed  by  divine  institution  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  hence  the 
Catholic  Church  has  been  always  called  Roman — The  commission 
of  teaching  His  whole  Church  infallibly^  with  whioh  Christ 
invested  the  other  Apostles  descended  to  their  successors,  the 
Bishops  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  their  corporate  capacity — That 
the  Pope,  when  speaking  ex-Cathedra  has  the  power  of  teaching 
infallibly,  was  explicitly  •  defined  in  the  Vatican  Council — Old 
Catholics — Definitions  like  the  personal  infallibility  of  the  Pope, 
when  teaching  ex-Cathedra  do  not  constitute  additions  to  the  faith — 
Protestants  —  Deism  —  Materialism  —  Rationalism  —  The  vicious 
teaching  of  Strauss,  author  of  the  Leben  Jesu  (Life  of  Jesus) — 
The  Essays  and  Reviews — The  Eccc  JlomOy  or  *' a  Survey  of  the 
life  and  works  of  Jesus  Christ."^ 

This  is  tlie  place  to  give  an  account  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  because,  soon  after  Christianity  was  estab- 
lished, she  began  that  splendid  struggle  for  the 
character  of  the  Bible,  which  has  since  been  main- 
tained by  her  against  the  heretics,  who  ventured  to 
attack  it.  This  persistent  defence  of  the  authority 
of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  on  part  of  the  Catholic 
Church  has  been  challenged  in  later  times  by 
Luther  and  his  followers,  so  that  Protestantism  and 


THR    CATTIOLIC    CHURCH    AND    THK    BIBLE.  45 

the  various  systems  that  have  grown  out  of  it  for 
the  past  300  years,  demand  also  some  notice  in 
these  pages.  / 

•  Catholic  Chuech  : — Christ  not  only  left  on 
earth  a  body  of  revealed  doctrine,  which  He  required 
men  to  believe,  but  also  the  means  of  communicating 
the  knowledge  of  these  saving  truths  throughout  all 
nations.  Therefore,  Jesus  selected  from  amongst  His 
immediate  disciples  some  who  were  to  act  as  teachers, 
that  is  ihe  Apostles,  whose  divinely  authorised  mis- 
sion was  to  continue  in  their  lawful  successors 
until  the  end  of  the  world*  This  is  recorded  by 
St.  Matthew  in  his  Gospel  (xxviii.  18,  19,  20)  :— 
'^  And  Jesus  coming  spoke  to  them  saying:  All 
"  power  is  given  to  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Going 
'^  therefore  teach  ye  all  Eations  :  baptizing  them  in 
''  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
''  Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things 
^*  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you  :  and  behold  I 
'^  am  with  you  all  days,  even  to  the  consummation  of 
"  the  world."  Thus  Jesus  constituted  His  Church 
Catholic  in  extent  by  placing  all  nations  under  its 
sway,  and  Catholic  in  doctrine  by  determining  "  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you"  to  be  the 
subject  of  her  teaching,  and  Catholic  as  to  ti^ne  by 
His  promise  that  she  would  last  for  ever,  "even 
to  the  consummation  of  the  world."/ 

Infallibility  of  the  Catholic  Church  : — In 
order  that  men  might  feel  certain  that  the  faith 


46  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 


taught  by  Christ,  had  been  transmitted  to  them  in 
all  its  purity,  those  divinely  chosen  teachers  should 
be  protected  by  God  from  error.    Hence  the  Apostles 
and  their  successors  '^for  ever  "  received  authority 
from  Christ  not  only  to  teach  His  doctrines,  but 
to    decide    controversies     regarding     their      true 
meaning,  and  to  do  so  infallibly : — ''  And  I  will 
^'  ask  the  Father,  that  He  may  abide  with  you  for 
"  ever.    The  Spirit  of  truth,  whom  the  world  cannot 
"  receive,  because  it  seeth  him  not,  nor  knoweth 
"  him ;  but  you  shall  know  him,  because  he  shall 
"  abide  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you.     I  will  not 
"leave  you  orphans.    ..    ..     .     But  the  Paraclete 

"  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my 
"  name,  he  will  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all 
"  things  to  your  mind,  whatsoever  I  shall  have  said 
"  to  you"  (Gospel  of  St.  John  xiv.  16-26).  / 

Personal  Infallibility  of  St.  Peter  : — And 
again,  "from  among  the  Apostles  themselves, 
one  has  been  chosen,"  says  St.  Jerome,  "that 
a  head  being  appointed,  the  occasion  of  schism 
might  be  taken  away."  This  was  done  when 
our  Blessed  Lord  conferred  upon  St.  Peter  personally 
and  independently  the  authority  of  infallible  teaching, 
which  He  had  just  given  to  all  the  Apostles 
dependently  on  and  suhovdinately  to  St.  Peter.  At 
the  last  Supper  Jesus  singled  out  St.  Peter  from 
the  other  Apostles,  and  addressed  him  thus : — 
"  Simon,  Simon,  behold  Satan  hath  desired  to  have 


THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH   AND    THE    BIBLE  47 


'^  you  that  lie  may  sift  you  as  wheat.  But  I  have 
^ Sprayed  for  thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not :  and  thou 
"  being  once  converted,  confirm  thy  brethren " 
(Gospel  of  St.  Luke  xxii.  31,  32).  St.  Peter  was 
thus  made  personally  infallible  in  his  teaching 
as  head  of  the  Church,  for  if  he  himseK  were 
capable  of  erring,  he  could  not  confirm  his 
brethren.  / 

The  fact  that  our  Blessed  Lord  gave  St.  Peter 
personally  and  independently,  the  power  of  teaching 
infallibly,  is  the  foundation  of  what  was  always 
held  in  the  Catholic  Church  as  her  general  and 
approved  teaching.  It  is  that  when  the  Pope,  who 
is  the  Bishop  of  Eome,  and  consequently  St.  Peter's 
successor,  publishes  any  decree  in  ihe  matter  of 
faith  and  morals  to  which  he  requires  submission 
from  all  the  faithful,  that  is  when  teaching  ex- 
Cathedra^  he  is  infallible  in  such  decrees.  This 
doctrine,  though  dragged  into  controversy,  so  far 
back  as  the  fifteenth  century,  was  not  solemnly 
defined  until  1870  in  the  Yatican  Council.  It 
was  then  assailed  with  the  utmost  virulence  by 
Non-Catholics,  and  in  Germany  a  few,  who  called 
themselves  Old  Catholics^  were  condemned  as  heretics 
for  having  stubbornly  repudiated  it,  on  the  grounds 
that  by  its  promulgation  the  faith  of  the  Church 
had  been  changed.  But,  in  defining  this  dogma,  it 
is  not  true  to  say  that  the  Yatican  Council  added  to 
what  was  taught  by  Christ.     The  Catholic  Church, 


48  INTRODUCTIOX    TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

in  her  teaching  office,  whether  through  an 
Ecumenical  Council,  or  through  the  Eoman 
Pontiif,  speaking  as  head  of  the  Church,  cannot 
define  any  truth  unless  it  be  contained  in  the 
revealed  Word  of  God,  communicated  to  men  by 
Christ  and  His  Apostles.  Her  authority,  as  infallible 
teacher,  is  restricted  to  the  faith,  confided  to  her 
safe-keeping  by  Christ  Himself,  and  she  has  no 
power  to  add  to  or  take  from  this  divine  deposit. 
J3efinitions  like  that  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope, 
and  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed 
"Virgin,  do  not  constitute  additions  to  the  faith. 
They  propose,  for  the  belief  of  the  faithful 
only,  such  of  those  revealed  doctrines  as  have  been 
controverted.  I 

St.  Peter's  Primacy  of  Honour  and  Jurisdic- 
Tiox  : — AgainatCaesarea-Philippi  where  Jesus  came 
after  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves  and  fishes.  He 
asked  the  Apostles  whom  did  they  believe  him  to 
be?  St.  Peter  answered  for  them: — ^^Thou  ait 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  This  glorious 
profession  of  faith  Jesus  met  at  once  by  an  assurance 
that  it  did  not  proceed  from  fiesh  and  blood,  but 
from  divine  revelation,  and  He  proceeded  to  declare 
its  reward,  namely,  the  primacy  of  honour^  in  these 
words: — "Thou  art  Peter ;  and  upon  this  rock  T  will 
"build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
"prevail  against  it"  (Gospel  of  St.  Matt.  xvi. 
lG-18).     Then    continuing    to    address  St.  Peter 


THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH   AND   THE    BIBLE.  49 

alone,  Jesus  added  : — "  And  I  wDl  give  to  yon  tlic 
''  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  whatsoever 
''  thou  shalt  bind  upon  earth,  shall  be  bound  also  in 
'^  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth,  it 
^^  shall  be  loosed  also  in  heaven"  (Matt.  xvi.  19). 
]N'ow,  the  keys  are  the  emblem  of  jurisdiction,  from 
which  it  follows  that  Christ  gave  to  St.  Peter, 
whom  He  had  appointed  head  of  His  Church  the 
primacy  of  jurisdiction,  / 

This  primacy  of  jurisdiction  was  confirmed  after- 
wards when  Jesus  commissioned  St.  Peter  to  feed 
His  lambs  and  sheep,  that  is,  to  govern  the  whole 
flock — pastors  as  well  as  people.  (St.  John  xxi.  15, 
16,  17.)  And  this  double  primacy  of  honour  and 
jurisdiction  should  be  transmitted  to  St.  Peter's  suc- 
cessors, because  it  could  not  otherwise  serve  the  end 
intended  by  our  Blessed  Lord.  So  too  the  authority 
of  teaching  infallibly,  which  was  conferred  upon  St. 
Peter  personalhj  and  independently^  must  pass  to  the 
Bishops  of  Eome,  seeing  that  it  was  given  to  make 
fast  the  principle  of  unity  in  doctrine,  and,  therefore, 
to  continue  as  long  as  the  Church  of  Christ  should 
last,  and  this  is  the  reason  why  the  Catholic  Church 
has  been  always  called  Roman,  It  was  in  Eome 
that  St.  Peter  established  his  See,  and  died  there 
after  presiding  over  it  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
It  was  from  this  centre  he  exercised  his  primacy, 
and  since  then,  every  Bishop  of  Eome,  as  St.  Peter's 
legitimate   successor,    governed    the    Universal    or 


50  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

Catholic  Church  of  Christ,  as  its  Sovereign  or 
Supreme  Pontiff. 

Tn  the  same  way  the  commission  of  teaching  the 
whole  Church  infallibly  with  which  Christ  invested 
the  other  Apostles  dependently  on  and  subordinatelij 
to  St.  Peter,  descended  to  their  successors,  the 
Bishops  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  their  corporate 
capacity.  Christ  promised  that  He  would  be  with 
^^them  to  the  consummation  of  the  world,"  and  that 
the  Paraclete  "would  abide  with  them  for  ever." 
By  this  divine  assistance  the  whole  body  of  the 
Catholic  Episcopate,  united  with  the  Eoman 
Pontiff,  are  protected  against  every  error  when 
teaching  the  faithful  in  matters  connected  with 
faith  and  morals.  \ 

Protestants  : — Christ  not  only  established  in 
the  Church  a  body  whose  oflB.ce  it  is  to  teach 
infallibly  and  to  govern,  but  He  required  obedience 
to  their  authority.  In  sending  His  seventy-two 
disciples,  '^two  and  two  before  His  face,"  into  the 
harvest,  He  said  to  them: — ''He  that  heareth  you, 
''  heareth  me  ;  and  he  that  despiseth  you,  despiseth 
"  me  ;  and  he  that  despiseth  me,  despiseth  Him  that 
''sent  me"  (Luke  x.  16.)  And  St.  Paul  in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (xiii.  17)  enjoins  upon  that 
people  to  "obey  your  prelates,  and  be  subject  to 
"them,  for  they  watch  as  having  to  render  an 
"  account  of  your  souls ;  that  they  may  do  this 
"with  joy  and  not  with  grief."     For  over  1,500 


THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH    AND   THE    BIBLE.  51 

years  this  obedience  was,  with,  some  few 
exceptions,  dutifully  accorded  to  the  legitimate 
successor  of  St.  Peter  at  Eome,  and  to  the 
lawful  successors  of  the  other  Apostles  through- 
out the  world.  In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  however,  some  in  Germany  first,  then  in 
Switzerland,  England,  and  other  countries,  contended 
that  this  ancient  infallible  and  living  authority  to 
teach  the  true  Christian  faith  had  failed,  and  with 
a  protest  they  went  out  from  its  jurisdiction. 
Since  then  they  are  known  as  Protestants ^  which  is 
a  general  term  for  those  who  profess  Christianity, 
but  belong  to  one  of  the  sects  that  sprang  from  the 
rebellion  of  the  sixteenth  century./ 

Deism  : — Protestants  having  thus  emancipated 
themselves  from  the  infallible  authority  which 
Christ  had  established  in  His  Church,  set  up  in  its 
stead  the  shifting  rule  of  private  judgment.  Starting 
from  this  fundamental  principle  of  Protestantism, 
John  Locke,  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  published  about 
the  year  1666,  after  nineteen  years'  study,  his 
^*  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding."  In  it,  he 
investigated  the  source  of  all  truth,  and  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  the  mind  of  man  is  a  ^'  tabula  rasa'''' 
before  receiving  knowledge,  which  it  imbibes  in 
every  branch,  through  the  five  senses,  that  is  from 
experience.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  Sensism  or 
Empiricism,  which  Toland,  the  disciple  of  Locke, 
and  master  of  the  English  infidel  school,  applied  to 


62 


INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 


the  principal  truths  of  Christianity.  He  insisted 
that  since  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith  are 
derived,  not  from  the  testimony  of  the  senses,  but 
from  supernatural  revelation,  they  must  be  set 
aside.  He  accordingly  rejected  them,  and  the 
Natural  Religion  or  Deism^  which  he  put  in  their 
place,  made  faith  consist  merely  in  the  belief  of 
God,  and  His  truths,  so  far  as  they  are  discoverable 
by  the  contemplation  of  the  external  world,  or 
^Nature.  / 

Materialism  : — Deism^  however,  did  not  make  a 
deep;  impression  on  the  English  mind,  but  trans- 
ferred'to /France,  it  was  warmly  adopted  by  Voltaire, 
who  had  resolved  to^  devote  his  whole  life  to 
the  effort  of  destroying  Christianity,  and  with  it  all 
positive  religioui  His«  most  active  agents  were 
D'Alembert  and  Diderot,  by  whom  the  Deism 
or  Naturalism,  imported,  from,  England,  was 
soon  developed  into  Materialism,  Matter,  they 
taught,  is  the  efficient  and  supreme  cause  of  all 
things.  It  is  seK-existing  and  self-directing  with- 
out a  God  to  sustain  or  govern  it.  Man's  soul 
being  but  a  part  of  his  body,  dies  with  it,  so  that 
there  is^no  future  state  of  reward  or  punishment ; 
no  distinction  between  moral  good  or  evil ;  no  divine 
faith;  no- Church;  no  sacred  ministry.  Such  were 
the  theories  circulated  throughout  France  in  the 
columns  of  the  infamous  Encyclopedia  I 

Kationalism  : — It  was  in  this  way  the  English 


THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH   AND   THE    BIBLE.  53 

Deists  and  Erench  Materialists  sensualized  religion, 
but  it  remained  for  the  German  philosophers  of  the 
last  hundred  years  to  Rationalize  it.  They  hold  that 
truth  of  whatever  description  must  not  be  accepted 
on  any  authority,  no  matter  how  high,  tunless  it 
be  demonstrated  by  the  reason  of  the  a-ational  man. 
The  senses  assure  every  human  being  that  there 
exists  an  external  Avorld .  No  on  a  has  even  been  able 
to  doubt  it,  but  i^a^f/o^za/^m.rejects  the  testimony  of 
the  senses.  The  dictate  of  inward  consciousness 
commands  one  to  believe  that  he  exists  when  he 
is  conscious  that  he  exists,  and  so  foith.  But 
Etitionalists  pronounce  this  dictate  to  be  a  chimera. 
Then  Eevelation  proclaims  that  there  are  in  God 
three  Divine  Persons  really  distinct,  that  the  second 
Person  assumed  human  nature,  and  so  on  with 
the  other  mysteries  of  the  Christian  faith.  But 
the  Eatioualist  repudiates  this  evidence.  There  is, 
he  contends,  no  supernatural  order.  / 

Idealism  : — The  Idealist  accounts  for  religion 
on  the  principle  which  makes  all  knowledge 
come  to  man  from  ideas.  But  an  idea  cannot 
testify  to  the  truth  of  what  it  represents,  so  that 
t!ie  existence  of  the  objects  must  be  ascertained 
from  other  authority.  If  they  belong  to  the  physical 
world,  they  are  known  by  the  senses ;  should  they 
be  a  part  of  the  spiritual  world — primary  or  original 
notions — the  dictate  of  inward  consciousness  pro- 
claims them,  and  positive  revelation  does  the  same 


54  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 


with  the  truths  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  advocates 
of  Idealism^  however,  hold  that  nothing  is  true 
except  what  is  assured  on  the  evidence  of  ideas. 
This  startling  theory  was  systematized  in  his 
"  Critik  of  Pure  Eeason,"  published  in  1781,  by 
Emanuel  Kant^,  who  taught  Logic  and  Metaphysics 
in  the  University  of  Koenigsburg,  his  native  city. 
There  are^  he  said,  in  the  mind  categorical  ideas,  or 
certain  necessary  unchangeable  forms,  and  it  is  upon 
their  evidence  alone  the  existence  of  ideas  and  their 
objects  must  be  accepted.  How,  he  was  asked,  can 
these  categories,  which  are  only  ideas,  furnish  the 
knowledge  of  objects  ?  And  his  answer  was  that 
they  belong  to  the  sphere  of  practical  and  not 
theoretical  reason.  Eut  practical  reason  is  simply  a 
practical  judgment  of  reason,  which  is  a  matter  of 
positive  faith  without  strict  evidence,  and  it  is  upon 
its  authority  Kant  tells  us  to  take  all  the  know- 
ledge of  external  objects.  This,  he  says,  is  the  source 
of  that  true  religion,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the 
dictates  of  practical  reason  and  not  in  the  dogmas 
of  revelation.  / 

Such  was  the  origin  of  Idealism^  by  which  the 
evidence  of  ideas  was  constituted  the  only  criterion 
of  truth.  But,  Kant  made  the  object  really  distinct 
from  reason  or  the  mind  apprehending  it,  and  this 
could  not  hold  long.  The  theory  was  repudiated 
by  Fichte,  a-  friend  of  Kant,  and  Professor  of 
Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Jena  about  1792, 


THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH   AND   THE    BIBLE.  55 

to  make  way  for  Ms  own  notion  that  there  is  no  real 
distinction  between  the  ideas  and  their  objects.  He 
maintained  that  the  mind  apprehending  was  the 
bearer  of  every  true  existence,  and  that  the  objects 
outside  were  merely  its  manifestations  or  modifica- 
tions. Hence,  the  thinking  mind  is  the  one  true 
real  existence,  in  which  everything  is  identified ; 
the  objects  or  what  is  spoken  of  as  endowed  with 
real  existences  are  mere  appearances  or  phenomena, 
so  that  when  the  mind  attributes  to  them  a-  distinct 
existence  it  is  in  a  dream.  Therefore,  in  identify- 
ing the  mind,  apprehending,  with  the  object,  Fichte 
was  forced  to  reduce  external  objects,  that  is,  bodies 
and  intelligent  beings,  to  mere  appearances,  and  so 
strip  them  of  real  existence.  This  evidently  was  an 
error,  much  more  fatal  to  Idealism  than  the  one  he 
ventured  to  remedy  in  the  system  of  his  friend, 
Kant.  It  was  at  once  perceived  by  the  keen  vision 
of  F.  W.  Schelling,  a  distinguished  professor  in 
Berlin,  who  followed  Fichte's  lectures  at  Jena,  and 
was  an  enthusiastic  student  of  Idealism,  He  saw 
that  so  long  as  the  objects  were  confined  to  the 
thinking  mind  only,  their  existence  was  purely  ideal 
and  not  real.  They  were  therefore  removed  by  him 
from  the  thinking  mind,  or  subjective-self  to  the 
absolute-self,  but  what  this  absolute-self  was  he  did 
not  explain  in  a  manner  intelligible  to  ordinary 
readers.  He  said  it  was  the  great  absolute  Being 
in  which  all  diversities  and  oppositions  as  of  ideal 


56  INTRODUCT  OX   TO    THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

and  real,  subject  and  object  are  confounded,  and  out 
of  which  they  grow.  This  Great  Being  is  the  one 
sole  existence,  or  God,  according  to  Schelling,  while 
Hegel,  who  succeeded  him  as  leader  of  the  German 
philosophical  school,  declared  the  one  sole  existence 
to  be  the  idea  itself  which  he  styled  the  greed  all,  / 
These  German  philosophers  summoned  before  the 
tribunal  of  their  reason  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  hither- 
to held  sacred  and  certain  by  the  whole  Christian 
world,  and  condemned  them  as  unworthy  of  belief, 
since  they  were  beyond  the  region  of  ideas.  They 
were,  they  said,  either  inventions  of  the  ^vriters, 
or  historically  true  but  superstitions,  which  Jesus, 
who  was  only  a  man,  and  His  immediate  followers 
embodied  in  their  own  religion  to  make  it  acceptable 
to  the  Jews,  and  the  miracles  put  forward  in  con- 
firmation of  these  superstitions  were  the  result  of 
natural  causes.  Others  went  further  and  declared 
the  Christian  truths,  as  well  as  the  miracles,  with 
which  they  were  sealed,  to  be  mere  myths.  These 
views  found  the  strongest  expression  in  the  lectures 
of  F.  Baur,  who  expounded  divinity  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Tubingen  about  1826.  Here  one  of  his 
most  assiduous  pupils  was  David  Strauss,  who  pub- 
lished his  ^'Leben  Jesu"  (Life  of  Jesus),  in  1835, 
and  a  revised  edition  for  the  German  people  in 
1864.  In  it  he  put  forth  this  proposition: — 
^^A  personality  which  on  one  side  indeed  is  of  a 
"  man,  but  on  the  other  is  a  Being  born  of  a  human 


THE    CATHOLIC   CHURCH   AND   THE    BIBLE.  57 

"  mother,  is  begotten  of  no  human  father,  such  an 
"'  object  we  hand  over  to  fable  and  to  poetry,  but 
"  never  think  of  making  it  the  theme  of  serious 
^'  historical  statement."  It  was  this  book  that 
suggested  to  Ernest  Eenan,  once  a  student  of  the 
great  Ecclesiastical  Seminary  of  S.  Sulpice,  at  Paris, 
his  own  '^  Yie  de  Jesus,"  in  which  he  modified  the 
myths  of  Strauss  into  legends.  He  is  now  the 
recognised  apostle  in  France  of  the  doctrines  which 
Strauss  propagated  in  Germany.  / 

Though  the  vicious  teaching  of  Dr.  Strauss  had 
not  a  popular  following  in  England,  still  many 
works  having  a  rationalistic  tendency  have  come 
from  the  pens  of  some  prominent  members  of  the 
English  Universities,  within  recent  years.  Thus  in 
1860  appeared  the  "  Essay  sand  Eeviews,"  edited 
by  the  Professor  of  Greek  at  Oxford,  and  in  1868 
Macmillan  and  Co.  brought  out  the  ^'  Ecce  Homo, 
a  Survey  of  the  Life  and  "Works  of  Jesus  Christ," 
which  was  accepted  at  the  time,  by  the  public 
generally,  as  the  work  of  an  eminent  Oxford  Pro- 
fessor. No  doubt  Protestants,  as  a  body,  repudiate 
with  horror  these  monstrous  systems  of  modern 
philosophy,  and  shrink  from  any  association  with 
them.  But,  nevertheless,  they  proceed  en  exactly 
the  same  rule  as  that  upon  which  Protestantism  set 
out,  namely,  private  judgment  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  Bible.  / 


T^'    "    "     "     "     "     '■     "     ■'     "=X 


CB  APTEE  lY. 

GENUINENESS    OF   THE   OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS. 

Definition  of  New  Testament  genuineness — The  genuineness  of 
all  the  books  of  Scripture  on  the  Catholic  Canon,  intimated  but 
not  defined  by  Council  of  Trent — The  Christian  Church,  from 
time  of  the  Apostles,  believed  the  New  Testament  books  to  be 
genuine — External  evidence  of  this  belief — Not  necessary  that  the 
■witnesses  testifying  to  this  belief  should  be  all  contemporary — 
God  would  not  allow  the  faithful  to  be  mistaken  in  this  belief — 
This  belief  not  challenged  by  enemies  of  Christian  Religion — This 
uniform  belief  of  the  whole  Church  not  to  be  rejected  because  one 
or  two  of  the  early  Christian  writers  are  found  quoting  from 
spurious  Scripture — Impossible  to  have  imposed  fraudulently 
upon  the  faithful  the  New  Testament  Scriptures — Internal 
evidence  for  genuineness  of  New  Testament — Arguments  of 
some  German  freethinkers,  from  internal  evidence,  against  the 
genuineness  of  the  Synoptics  or  three  first  Gospels,  as  well  as  the 
fourth  Gospel — Genuineness  of  Old  Testament — Proved  by  external 
and  internal  evidence — Arguments  of  the  German  and  English 
nationalistic  Schools  against  the  genuineness  of  the  Pentateuch.  / 

''Genuineness  of  the  New  Testament  : — When  the 
writers  are  specified,  as  in  the  case  of  the  New 
Testament,  the  genuineness  of  its  books  consists  in 
this,  that  they  have  been  written  by  the  persons 
whose  names  they  bear.  This  fact  has  been  inti- 
mated, but  not  defined  by  the  Council  of  Trent. 
The  Tridentine  Fathers,  in  their  IVth  Session, 
proclaimed,  by  solemn  decree,  the  Scriptures,  one 
by  one,  which  constitute  the  Catholic  Canon,  and 


GENUINENESS    OP   THE    OLD    AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.     59 

in  doing  so  they  significantly  entered  the  name  of 
the  writer  after  each  book. 

That  the  Christian  Church,  from  the  time  of  the 
Apostles,  believed  the  genuineness  of  the  New 
Testament  is  conclusively  proved  by  external 
evidence^  that  is  the  testimony  of  the  early  Chris- 
tian writers,  as  well  as  by  internal  evidence^  or 
qualities  that  distinguish  the  character  of  the  IN'ew 
Testament  waitings.  / 

External  Evidence  : — As  regards  the  external 
evidence,  perhaps,  the  very  best  proof  of  the  belief 
of  the  primitive  Church  in  this  matter  is  contained 
in  those  ancient  liturgies,  mentioned  in  the 
'^  Apostolic  Constitutions,"  attributed  by  some 
to  the  Apostles  themselves,  and  quoted  by  Benedict 
XIY.,  in  his  work  on  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 
Here  it  is  commanded  that  a  part  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment be  read  and  explained  at  the  Mass  or  Synaxis ; 
but  this  ordinance  cannot  be  accounted  for  unless 
the  New  Testament  was  believed  to  be  a  genuine 
book  by  the  early  Christians.  Next  there  are  many 
individual  witnesses  to  the  same  fact.  St.  Clement, 
of  Eome,  who  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  St.  Paul, 
and  was  third  in  succession  in  the  Chair  of  Peter, 
furnishes  splendid  testimony  of  this  belief  iu  the 
Christian  Church  when  he  lived.  In  order  to 
reform  the  sensual  and  divided  Christian  commu- 
nity at  Corinth,  he  admonishes  them  by  letter  : — 
^*  To  remember  the  Epistles  of  the  blessed  Paul  the 


/ 

60  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURP:S. 

''  Apostle,  which,  he  wrote  to  you  in  the  very 
^^  beginning  of  the  Gospel.  Truly  in  the  Holy 
"  Ghost  he  sent  letters  to  you  anent  himself,  Cephas 
"  and  Apollo,  because  even  you  were  split  into 
^'  factions."  St.  Clement  here  states  that  St.  Paul 
was  the  writer  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  in 
the  New  Testament.  / 

St.  Polycarp,  as  well  as  St.  Ignatius,  the  Martyr, 
were  disciples  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  and  they 
are   still   more   pronounced   than   St.   Clement    of 
Eome,  in  their  testimony.     St.  Polycarp,  who  was 
Bishop  of  Smyrna,  wrote  to  the  Philippians  : — ^'  To 
"  rise  with  Christ  by  keeping  His  Commandments," 
and  accompanied  his  exhortation  with  the  following 
important  declaration : — These  things  I  write  to  you 
"  in  justice,  because  you  incited  me,  for  neither  I 
"  nor  any  other  like  me  can  attain  to  the  wisdom  of 
"  the  blessed  and  glorious  Paul,  into  whose  Epistles 
"if  you  look  you  may  raise  your  spiritual  fabric  by 
"  strengthening  faith,  -which  is  our   mother,   hope 
"  following  and  charity  towards  God  and  our  neigh- 
"bour  preceding  us.     He  who  has  charity  is  far 
*'  from  all  sin."     The  arguments  with  which  this 
remarkable  document  abounds   are    supported    by 
passages  from  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke,  with  the 
well-known      formula     "the    Sacred    Scriptures,'' 
implying,  of  course,  that  they  were  taken  from  the 
Gospels.  \ 

Among  the  seven  Epistles  of  St.  Ignatius,  the 


GENUINENESS   OF    THE    OLD   AND    NEW   TESTAMENTS.     61 


Martyr,  there  is  one  to  the  Philadelphians,  where  he 
speaks  of  the  whole  New  Testament  in  the  language 
of  the  time  as  Gospels  and  Apostles,  At  Chapter  y. 
he  says  : — ''  But  your  prayer  with  God  will  make 
''  me  perfect,  that  I  may  attain  the  portion  which 
"'  His  mercy  assigns  me,  flying  to  the  Gospel  as  to 
^^  Christ  present  in  body,  and  to  the  Apostles  as  to 
''  the  real  living  priesthood  of  the  Church." 

Therefore,  St.  Clement  of  Eome,  St.  Polycarp, 
and  St.  Ignatius,  who  were  on  terms  of  the  closest 
relationship  with  the  writers,  implicitly  declare 
that  the  Christian  Church  in  the  time  of  the 
Apostles  regarded  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
as  genuine./ 

This  evidence  of  Christian  belief,  coming  from 
the  time  of  the  Apostles,  is  carried  down  in  an  un- 
broken chain,  by  those  who  lived  immediately 
afterwards.  Papias,  Bishop  of  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia, 
about  140  A.D.,  left  the  following  statement: — 
''Mark,  the  disciple  of  St.  Peter,  wrote  faithfully 
"from  memory  Avhat  he  learned  of  the  acts  and 
"  sayings  of  the  Lord,  but  not  in  the  order  in  which 
"  they  happened.  Matthew  wrote  in  Hebrew  the 
'-  divine  oracles."  Eusebius,  who  recorded  these 
words  of  Papias  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History, 
added  : — "  Moreover,  the  same  Papias  has  given 
"  extracts  from  the  first  Epistle  of  St.  John  and 
''  the  first  Epistle  of  St.  Peter."/ 

Hermas   wrote    the  Pastor  some   time   between 


62  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

141  and  157  a.d.,  when  his  brother,  Pius  I.,  was 
Bishop  of  Eome,  and  in  it  he  has  quoted  largely 
from  St.  Matthew,  St.  Mark,  St.  Luke  and  St.  John ; 
from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul  to  the  Eomans  and  Ephesians,  and  from  the 
first  Epistle  of  St.  Peter.  But  to  do  this  would  be, 
indeed,  utterly  futile  on  his  part,  unless  the  source, 
from  which  he  has  drawn  so  abundantly,  was  com- 
monly regarded  as  genuine.  \ 

St.  Justin  the  Martyr,  an  eminent  Platonic 
philosopher,  embraced  the  true  faith  with  great 
fervour,  in  his  native  Samaria,  and  came  to  Eome. 
Here  he  addressed  to -the  Emperor,  Antoninus  Pius, 
his  famous  Apology,  in  which  he  advocated  the  cause 
of  the  Christians  with  such  force,  that  the  perse- 
cution, then  directed  against  them,  was  arrested. 
In  this  appeal  he  mentions  the  Gospels,  and 
says  they  were  written  by  the  Apostles.  A 
part  of  his  treatise  on  the  Eesurrection  is  given 
by  the  learned  Grabbe  in  his  Miscellanies  of 
the  Fathers  of  the  second  century  (page  177), 
and  it  contains  long  extracts  from  the  Gospels  of 
St.  Mark  and  St.  Luke,  and  from  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  / 

St.  Irenaeus  after  his  conversion  in  Asia  Minor 
also  visited  Eome,  and  there  vigorously  assailed  the 
errors  of  the  Gnostic  heresy  in  the  last  quarter  of 
the  second  century.  In  his  third  book  against 
these  errors,  he  furnished  splendid  testimony  to  the 


GENUINENESS    OF   THE    OLD    AND    NEW   TESTAMENTS.     63 

genuineness  of  the  !N'ew  Testament.  At  chapter  i. 
he  declares  that  "  The  way  of  salvation  was  made 
*'  known  to  us  by  those  who  announced  the  Gospel, 
''  and  afterwards  embodied  it  in  writing.  .  .  . 
"•  Matthew  it  was  who,  among  the  Hebrews, 
''  brought  out  in  their  own  language  a  written 
'*  Gospel  when  Peter  and  Paul  were  preaching  in 
'^  Eome,  and  founding  the  Church.  Then  after  their 
^'departure,  Mark,  the  disciple  and  interpreter  of 
^'  Peter :  he  too  delivered  to  us  in  writing  what 
^'  Peter  preached.  And  Luke,  moreover  the  fol- 
''  lower  of  Paul,  set  down  in  a  book  the  Gospel 
'''  preached  by  Paul.  Then  John,  the  disciple  of  the 
"  Lord,  who  also  lay  on  His  breast,  John  too 
''  published  his  Gospel,  living  at  that  time  at 
"  Ephesus  in  Asia."  And  at  chapters  xii.  and  xv., 
he  gives  long  extracts  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
and  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  / 

The  testimony  of  this  period  is  well  supported 
by  the  fragment  of  a  Canon  of  the  New  Testament 
books,  discovered  by  the  celebrated  antiquary, 
Muratori,  about  the  year  1700,  while  in  charge  of 
the  great  Ambrosian  library  in  Milan.  This  frag- 
ment begins  with  a  broken  sentence,  which  is 
followed  by  these  words: — -^^ In  the  third  place  is 
'^  the  hook  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St,  Luke ;  the 
''fourth,  the  Gospel  of  St,  John,'^  It  may  be  fairly 
concluded  that  the  Gospels  of  St.  Matthew  and 
St.  Mark  occupied  the  first  and  second  places  on 


64  INTRODXJCriON   TO    THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

tlie  list.  This  iragment  also  mentions  the  two 
first  Epistles  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John,  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  and  all  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul, 
except  the  one  to  the  Hebrews,  and  contains  an 
important  statement  to  the  effect  that  the  book 
called  ''  the  Fastor^  by  Hermas,"  was  written 
^'  quite  lately,  in  our  own  time,  while  Pius,  the 
"brother  of  Hermas,  was  filling  the  Episcopal  chair 
" ill  Eome."  IS'ow  Pius  T.  died  in  a.d.  157,  so  thit 
the  date  of  this  fragment  is  fixed  at  furthest  in  the 
year  175  or  180./ 

In  the  third  century,  Origen,  in  his  homily  on 
the  7th  Chapter  of  Josue,  after  explaining  the 
mystical  signification  of  the  fall  of  Jericho,  speaks 
explicitly  of  every  book  of  the  New  Testament : — 
"  The  priests,"  he  says,  "  destroyed  Jericho  by  the 
"  blast  of  their  trumpets,  etc.,  etc.,  but  our  Lord 
"  Jesus  Christ,  when  He  came,  sent  priests  also, 
"  viz.,  His  Apostles,  with  trumpets  to  preach  His 
"  heavenly  doctrines.  Matthew  in  the  first  place 
"  blew  his  trumpet,  by  writing  his  Gospel,  and 
"  Mark,  Luke  and  John  followed.  Peter  also  by 
"  his  two  Epistles,  and  James  and  Jude.  Lastly 
"  also,  he  who  said,  ^  For  I  think  that  God  hath  set 
"  forth  us  Apostles '  (1  Cor.  iv.  9),  and  by  the  blast 
"  of  his  fourteen  Epistles  he  scattered  to  the  winds 
"  all  the  machinations  of  idolatry,  and  the  various 
"  systems  of  philosophy."/ 

In  this  century  too,  Tcrtullian,  after  his  conver- 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE   OLD   AND    NEW    TESTAMENTS.     65 

sion  in  202  a.d.  at  Carthage,  where  he  was  the 
omament  of  the  Bar,  employed  his  splendid  talents 
in  combating  the  rising  heresies.  His  most  power- 
ful defence  of  the  Catholic  faith  was  made  in  four 
books  against  Marcion,  an  apostate,  who,  among 
other  blasphemies,  denied  the  Incarnation  of  our 
Lord,  as  well  as  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and 
to  support  his  views,  rejected  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  except  a  few  Epistles,  and  the  Gospeb 
of  St.  liuke,  which  he  tried  to  corrupt.  TertuUian 
in  his  refutation  mentions  all  the  books  of  the 
"New  Testament,  giving  the  writer's  name  in  every 
single  instance./ 

Against  most  of  these  witnesses  it  may  be 
urged  that  they  were  not  contemporary  with 
the  New  Testament  writers.  But  when  there 
is  question  of  documents  which  were  public 
property,  and  as  such  well-known  to  all  the 
Christian  congregations,  contemporary  evidence 
is  not  necessary  to  establish  their  genuineness.  It 
must  be  remembered  too  that  there  was  here 
a  strong  supernatural  element,  for  God  would  not 
allow  the  faithful  to  be  deceived  in  reference  to 
the  genuineness  of  a  book  that,  contained  doctrines 
they  were  bound  to  know  and  believe  in  order  to  be 
saved.  Then  if  this  belief  of  the  Christian  commu- 
nity could  have  been  challenged,  the  founders  of 
heresy  in  those  times  would  have  done  so  in  order 
to  get  rid  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Testament, 


66  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 


wliich  they  denied.  Celsus,  a  Pagan  pMlosoplier, 
attacked  the  doctrines  of  the  'New  Testament  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  century,  but  did  not  ques- 
tion its  genuineness,  ^Neither  did  Porphyrins,  an- 
other Pagan  philosopher,  in  the  third  century,  nor 
the  Emperor  Julian,  the  Apostate,  and  thus  some 
of  the  most  determined  foes  of  the  early  Christian 
Church  join  in  bearing  testimony  to  the  genuineness 
of  the  New  Testament  books.  \ 

It  is  true  that  there  was  quite  a  number  of  forged 
Gospels,  Acts  and  Apocalypses  in  existence  during 
the  first  centuries  of  the  Church.  Some  of  these 
spurious  Scriptures  may  have  been  accepted  as 
genuine  by  one  or  two  of  the  early  Christian 
writers.  But  the  unfounded  impression  of  a  few, 
and  for  a  brief  period,  is  not  the  uniform  belief  of 
the  whole  Church,  upon  which  the  genuineness  of 
the  Scripture  rests.  Then  it  would  be  impos- 
sible at  any  time  to  palm  upon  the  public  the  New 
Testament  writings.  The  Apostles  would  have 
denounced  any  such  attempt  in  their  day,  and, 
in  after  times,  the  pastors  of  the  Church  would  have 
warned  their  flocks  against  receiving  them.  Tertul- 
lian,  in  his  book  on  Baptism  (chap,  ix.),  relates 
a  fact  which  shows  how  sharply  the  Bishops 
of  his  day  visited  any  attempt  to  pass  off  fictitious 
Scriptures.  He  says  that  an  African  priest,  a  con- 
temporary of  his  own,  published  some  treatises  on 
devout  life,  under  the  name  of  an  Apostle.     The 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    OLD    AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.     67 

act  was  merely  a  pious  fraud,  and  yet  when  it  came 
to  the  knowledge  of  his  bishop,  the  offender  was 
suspended  from  his  office  and  benefice.  And  when 
the  heretic  Marcion  tried  to  circulate  a  false  gospel 
of  St.  Luke,  Tertullian  it  was  who  exposed  the 
rash  attempt./ 

Intern'al  Evide:n^ce  : — The  internal  evidence  for 
the  genuineness  of  the  New  Testament  may  be 
given  in  a  few  lines.  The  actions  and  doctrines 
of  our  Lord  are  there  stated  with  such  accuracy 
and  minuteness,  that  the  writers  mu^  have 
been  present,  or  had  them  immediately  from 
personal  witnesses.  I^ow,  St.  Matthew  and  St. 
John  wrote  only  what  i:hey  'themselves  heard 
and  saw,  while  St.  Luke,  St.  Mark,  and  St.  Paul, 
had  what  they  have  stated  from  the  testimony 
of  eye-witnesses.  \ 

The  first  three  Gospels  are  commonly  called 
Synoptics,  because  each  gives  a  collective  view  of 
our  Blessed  Lord's  teaching  and  acts.  Upon  this 
circumstance,  as  well  as  the  remarkable  resemblance 
between  these  books,  some  few  German  Free- 
thinkers build  a  fanciful  theory  to  the  effect  that 
the  Gospels  of  St.  Matthew,  St.  Mark  and  St.  Luke 
are  merely  editions  of  one  popular  Scripture,  pub- 
lished in  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Church 
to  silence  the  Jewish  converts,  who  were  clamouring 
for  the  right  of  retaining  the  Mosaic  ritual  in  the 
ISTew  Dispensation.     From  the   same   quarter  the 


QS  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

force  of  internal  evidence  is  also  directed  against 
the  authorship  of  the  fourth  Gospel.  This  book, 
they  say,  with  its  strong  flavour  of  Gnosticism,  is 
so  sublime  in  sense,  and  so  finished  in  style,  that  it 
could,  not  possibly  be  the  work  of  an  illiterate 
fisherman  of  Galilee  ;  but  of  some  accomplished 
scholar  and  profound  thinker,  belonging  to  the 
Gnostics  of  the  second  century.  1 

The  three  first  books  of  the  ^N'ew  Testament, 
however,  are  singularly  alike,  inasmuch  as  they  go 
over  the  same  ground,  and  not  from  any  connection 
with  a  document,  which  no  early  Christian  writer 
mentions,  and  never  existed  except  in  imagination. 
As  to  St.  John  being  incapable  from  his  antecedents 
of  producing  the  fourth  Gospel,  it  is  enough  to 
observe  that  he  was  ^'  the  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved  "  (John  xxi.  7),  and  thus  received  from  his 
Divine  Master  that  heavenly  light  which  enabled 
him  to  rise  to  the  height  of  his  lofty  production.  \ 

Genuineness  of  the  Old  Testament: — Coming 
now  to  the  Old  Testament,  some  of  its  books,  as 
for  instance.  Judges,  Euth,  the  four  books  of 
Kings,  the  two  •  books  of  Paralipomenon  or  Chron- 
icles, Judith,  Esther  and  Job,  are  not  signed  by  the 
writers ; ,  but  their  genuineness  consists  in  this,  that 
they  are  the  work  of  persons,  who  lived  near  the 
time  and  were  well  acquainted  with  what  they  have 
recorded.  This  fact,  together  with  that  of  all  the 
other  Old  Testament  books,  having  been  written  by 


GENUINENESS   OF   THE    OLD   AND    NEW   TESTAMENTS.     69 

the  persons  whose  names   are   affixed  to  them,  is 
proved  by  external  and  internal  evidence.  I 

External  Evidence  : — ^The  witnesses  who  supply 
the  external  evidence,  are  .the  Jews  themselves, 
and  surely  their  testimony  cannot  be  questioned. 
The  Old  Testament  contained  the  doctrines  and 
laws  that  controlled  the  supreme  spiritual,  as  -well 
as  temporal,  interests  of  the  Jews,  and  consequently 
their  authority  as  to  its  genuineness  is  final,  like  that 
of  the  early  Christian  community  in  reference  to 
the  genuineness  of  the  New  Testament.  'Now  the 
Jews  always  and  everywhere  paid  the  most  pro- 
found religious  respect  to  the  canon '  or  list  of  their  ' 
sacred  books.  It  was  kept  in  the  side  of  the  ark 
(Deuteronomy  xxxi.  26),  and  the  Jewish  monarch 
was  bound  to  have  a  copy  before  him  and  ''  read  it 
all  the  days  of  his  life"  (Deuteronomy  xvii.  19). 
When  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles — one  of  the  i;hree 
great  annual  festivals  of  the  Jews —returned,  the 
sacred  volume  was  solemnly  produced,  and  read 
aloud  before  the  multitude.  This  persistent  rev- 
erence of  the  Jews  for  the  Old  Testament  is  the 
best  proof  of  their  belief  in  its  genuineness,  for 
they  would  have  been  glad  of  the  slightest  grounds 
to  reject  it  altogether,  since,  giving  as  it  did, 
prominently  the  account  of  their  sins,  it  was  a 
standing  monument  of  their  shocking  ingratitude 
to  God.  f 

Then  the  Jewish  historian,  Josephus,  in  his  book 


70  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

against  Apion,  mentions  the  consistent  and  uni- 
versal tradition  of  his  countrymen  regarding  their 
Sacred  Scripture  to  be  in  significant  accord 
witL  that  oi  the  Christian  Church  from  the 
time  of  the  Apostles:.  This  uninterrupted  belief  of 
both  Jews  and  Christians  insists  that  while  those 
Old.  Testament  books,  which  begin  with  Josue  and 
end  in  the  second  of  Machabees,  were  compiled  by 
competent  men  from  records,  made  at  the  time  by 
official  Scribes,  and  kept  with  religious  care,  while 
the  first  five  books  were  written  by  Moses,  partly 
from,  personal  experience,  and  partly  from  historical 
monuments,  as  well  as  information,  obtained  through 
the  long  lives  of  the  six  preceding  generations. 
This  belief  also  held  that  Moses,  born  about  1600 
B.C.  in  Egypt,  the  great  prophet,  legislator  and 
liberator-  o£  the  Israelites,  wrote  these  five  books 
betweenithe  years  1490.  and  1450  B.C.,  an  interval 
which  he  spent  ini  nomadic  journeyings  through  the 
desert,  at  the  head,  ofi  his  countrymen,  who  had 
been  miraculously  delivered  from  their  Egyptian 
bondage;  After,  iiiis  period  of  long  and  dreary 
wandering,  his  pusillanimity  at  the  last  moment, 
and  his  disobedience  to  the  letter  of  the  Divine 
command,  displeased  God,  who  condemned  him  to 
die  within  a  short  distance  of  that  '^Promised 
Land,"  for  which  he  had  so  long  sighed.  This  sad 
scene  closed  one  of  the  most  eventful  and  important 
lives  in  the  Old  Testament.     The  oldest  and  most 


GENUIXENFSS    OF    THE    OLD    AND    N'  W    TESTAMENTS.     71 

reliable  Pagan  historians  bear  the  same  testimony. 
Thus  Manetho  in  Egypt,  Strabo  in  Greece,  Dio- 
dorus,  the  Sicilian,  and  Tacitus,  the  Eoman,  speak 
of  Moses  by  name  in  their  allusions  to  the  sacred 
book  of  the  Jews.  \ 

Internal  Evidence  :-~The  Old  Testament  pos- 
sesses also  internal  marks,  which  place  beyond  all 
reasonable  doubt  the  fact  of  its  genuineness.  For 
instance,  the  way  in  which  the  institution  of  the 
Divine  worship  and  civil  polity  of  the  Jewish  nation 
is  narrated  in  the  Pentateuch,  points  unmistakably  to 
Moses  as  the  writer.  All  the  details  are  described, 
and  this  could  be  done  only  by  one,  who,  like 
Moses,  had  been  actually  engaged  in  the  proceedings. 
Thus  there  is  an  account  of  every  timber,  decora- 
tion, and  measurement  in  the  plan,  sketched  by  the 
Divine  Architect  for  the  Tabernacle  or  portable 
temple.  It  was  to  be  of  square  formation,  thirty 
cubits  long,  ten  high,  and  ten  broad.  Its  walls  of 
'^  settim-wood  "  to  be  overlaid  with  gold,  and  resting 
on  blocks  of  solid  silver.  The  interior  to  consist  of 
a  sanctuary,  twenty  cubits  by  ten,  and  of  *^  a  holy  of 
holies,"  ten  cubits  square.  In  this  ^^holy  of  holies" 
the  ark  was  to  rest,  having  within  the  ten  command- 
ments, engraved  on  two  tables  of  stone,  and  without, 
on  the  roof,  a  rich  throne  for  the  SheMnah  or  symbol 
of  God's  presence,  under  a  golden  canopy  of  winged 
cherubim.  The  great  candlestick,  and  the  incense- 
altar,  supporting  a  golden  bowl,  filled  with  sacred 


72  INTRODUCTION   TO  THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

fire,  were  to  occupy  the  outer  sanctuary.  Then, 
the  laws  given  by  God  for  the  religious  and  civil 
government  of  His  ''  chosen  people  "  are  set  forth 
with  such  exactness,  that  they  were  evidently 
dictated  to  the  writer,  and  such  was  Moses.  So, 
too,  in  Josue,  Judges,  Kings,  etc.,  the  intimate 
acquaintance,  with  everything  related  therein,  is  so 
striking  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  any  one  to 
have  written  these  books  except  some  person,  who 
had  been  closely  connected,  both  by  time  and  know- 
ledge, with  the  events.  / 

Still,  the  enemies  of  God's  written  word  seek  to 
set  aside  the  genuineness  of  all  the  '  Old  Testament 
books  by  directing  their  shafts  principally  against 
the  Pentateuch  and  its  author.  Yater,  De  Wette, 
and  Colenso,  representing,  respectively,  the  Eation- 
alistic  schools  of  Germany  and  England,  make  out 
the  Pentateuch  to  be  a  tissue  -of  tales  tradi- 
tionary, 'touching  the  boasted  beginnings  of  the 
Jewish  nation.  These  legends,  they  say,  came  to 
be  woven  into  popular  ballads,  which  were  collected, 
and  written. out  in  their  present  form  by  different 
persons,  during  the  long  interval  between  the 
establishment  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy  (1090  B.C.) 
and  the  end  of  the  Babylonish  captivity  (530  b.c.) 
In  support  of  this,  it  is  assumed  that  because, 
throughout  the  first  five  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, God  is  variously  termed  Elohim  and  Jehovah^ 
there  must  be  corresponding  Jchovistic  and  Elohistic 


GENUINENESS    OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENTS.     73 

authors.  Per  a  similar  reason  it  is  taken  for  granted 
that  one  and  the  same  writer  could  neither  have 
called  Genesis  '^the  generations  of  the  heaven  and 
the  earth  "  in  one  place  (ii.  4),  and  in  another  (v.  1), 
^'the  book  of  the  generation  of  Adam,"  nor  Levi- 
ticus, ^^  the  law  of  holocaust,"  in  chapter  vii.  37, 
and  ^Hhe  law  touching  the  leprosy  of  any  woollen 
or  linen  garment,"  in  chapter  xiii.,  and  59t]i 
verse.  The  want  of  similarity  in  the  diction  of  the 
Pentateuch,  as  well  as  those  remark^vble  gaps,  like 
that  from  the  third  to  the  fortieth  year  in  the 
nomad  life  of  the  Israelites,  demand,  they  say,  a 
plurality  of  writers.  Besides,  Moses  could  neither 
be  the  author  of  the  last  chapter  in  Deuter- 
onomy, where  his  own  death  is  described,  nor 
of  those  passages,  such  as  Exodus  (xvi.  35),  in 
which  it  is  stated  that  the  Israelites  had  arrived  on 
the  borders  of  Chanaan.  But  the  tribes  of  Eeuben 
and  Manasses  did  obtain  a  footing  in  the  "  promised 
land  "  before  their  great  legislator  departed  this 
life,  and  the  circumstances  of  his  death  are  given 
by  the  faithful  Josue  in  the  closing  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy.  That  there  would  be  an  occasional 
void  in  the  story  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  a  variety 
of  language,  is  what  must  be  expected  from 
one  like  Moses,  who  had  to  do  his  work  during 
forty  years,  in  the  midst  of  great  hardships 
up  and  down  the  wilderness.  As  to  Jehovah  it 
corresponds   with   Almighty,    AU-zvise,     The   word 


74  INTRODUCTION    TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 


designates  God  in  all  His  omnipotence  and  -wisdom, 
etc. ;  but  Elohim  is  the  Hebrew  for  the  Supreme 
Being  without  His  attributes ;  and  with  regard  to 
the  different  titles  in  Genesis  and  Leviticus,  they 
are  merely  the  headings  of  those  parts  into  which 
the  subject  is  divided.  / 


CHAPTEE  V. 

INTEGRITY    OF   THE    OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS. 

Substantial  integrity  of  Scripture  Text — Church  teaches  that 
God  safe-guarded  this  integrity — Many  Rationalists  hold  it  to  have 
been  essentially  altered  by  number  and  nature  of  changes  which 
it  underwent — That  these  changes  touched  the  letter  only  and  not 
the  substance,  proved  by  exhaustive  labours  of  Biblical  critics — 
Triumphant  support  to  Catholic  teaching  by  this  textual  investi- 
gation— Classification  of  Greek  Testament  manuscript  copies  into 
families — the  highest  critical  authority  belongs  to  the  Alexandrian 
family — Rules  of  Biblical  criticism  for  fixing  correct  reading  of 
any  disputed  passage  in  the  Bible — Printed  editions  of  Old  Testa- 
ment Hebrew  Text,  and  of  New  Testament  Greek  Text.  \ 

Substantial  Integrity  : — The  Bible  is  one  of 
the  channels,  adopted  by  God  to  transmit  the  pre- 
cepts, which  the  faithful  must  observe,  the  doctrines 
they  are  to  accept,  and  the  miracles,  confirming  this 
divine  code  of  laws  and  belief.  This  collection  of 
precepts,  doctrines,  and  facts,  constitute  the  substance, 
which  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  God  has 
confided  to  the  safe-keeping  of  a  divinely-appointed 
guardian.  Hence,  Catholics  hold  that  the  Bible 
text  has  not  suffered  essential  variation.  / 

Against  this  Catholic  teaching  many  Eationalists 
allege  the  changes  to  which  the  original  Scripture 
text  was  subjected  from  the  beginning.     Of  these 


76  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

wearing  influences,  transcribing,  they  say,  was 
perhaps,  the  most  injurious  because,  in  reference 
to  the  'New  Testament  especially,  as  soon  as  it 
appeared,  every  congregation  sought  a  copy,  and 
so  did  many  rich  converts.  Under  this  urgency 
copies  multiplied  to  meet  the  pressing  demand.  In 
making  these  the  transcribers  had  often  to  deal  with 
letters  so  imperfectly  formed  that  the  keenest  sight 
could  not  identify  them.  For  this  reason,  and 
also  from  similarity  of  sound,  if  the  work 
were  done  from  dictation,  whole  words  have 
been  misapprehended.  The  skill  of  the  trans- 
criber was  more  severely  taxed  when  he 
encountered  words  written  into  each  other  in 
one  undivided  line  without  punctuation  or  separa- 
tion of  any  kind,  as  was  often  the  case.  It  also 
happened  that  marginal  notes  found  their  way  into 
the  body  of  the  text.  The  various  readings  were 
largely  increased  under  this  action,  and  so  con- 
tinued at  every  stage  of  copying  through  which 
the  manuscripts  passed  until  printing  was  invented. 
Then  the  original  text  of  the  Bible  was  exten- 
sively quoted,  as  well  as  printed,  so  that  this, 
together  with  the  turning  of  it  into  languages, 
different  from  those  in  which  it  was  composed,  that 
is  Versions,  have  changed  it  materially.  Such  is 
the  anti-Catholic  argument,  taken  from  the  varia- 
tions, that  mark  every  stage  of  the  Old  and  jS'ew 
Testament  text.\ 


INTEGRITY    OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENTS.         77 

Biblical  Criticism  : — But  these  differences  have 
been  critically  examined,  and  found  in  every  in- 
stance to  touch  the  letter  and  not  the  substance.  It 
has  been  described  how  Origen  in  the  second  century 
produced  his  celebrated  Hexapla,  in  which  he  cor- 
rected the  Septuagint  by  comparing  it  with  the  oldest 
copies  of  the  Hebrew  originals,  and  other  existing 
Greek  versions.  Nearly  a  hundred  years  after- 
wards, Lucian,  a  priest  of  Antioch,  and  Hesychius, 
an  Egyptian  Bishop,  effected  a  similar  revision,  and 
St.  Jerome,  in  388,  at  the  request  of  Pope  Damasus, 
corrected  the  old  Latin;  version  or*  Vetus  Italica^ 
which  was  then  somewhat  defective. .  This  Biblical 
criticism  has  been  pursued  with  special  activity  for 
the  last  200  •  years  and  more,  not  alone  by  distin- 
guished Catholic  talent,  but  by  some  of  the  ripest 
scholars  in  this  department  on  the  Protestant  side. 
Benjamin  Kennicott,  a  Fellow  of  Oxford,  in  1750, 
explored  the  state  of  Yan-der  Hooght's  Hebrew 
text  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  comparing  it  with 
upwards  of  600  Hebrew  copies  and  sixteen  manu- 
scripts of  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch.  With  the 
assistance  of  other  accomplished  Orientalists  he 
worked  from  ten  to  fourteen  hours  a  day  for  ten 
years,  when  his  health  broke  down  under  the  strain.  / 

The  world  was  filled  with  the  praises  of  Kenni- 
cott's  labours,  when  De  Eossi  appeared  upon  the 
same  field,  and  performed  still  greater  wonders. 
He  was  a  Catholic  priest,  occupying  a  chair  in  the 


78  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURE-?. 

University  of  Parma,  and  by  far  the  best  a\itliority 
of  his  day  on  the  ancient  languages  of  the  Bible. 
With  this  profound  knowledge  he  applied  himself 
to  fix  the  correct  reading  of  the  Hebrew  text,  and 
in  doing  so  no  less  than  751  copies  of  the  original 
passed  through  his  hands,  besides  some  Samaritan 
manuscripts  and  ancient  versions.  All  these  were 
collated,  and  the  variations,  as  well  as  his  own 
critical  remarks,  filled  five  volumes,  of  which 
Davidson  speaks  in  the  following  complimentary 
terms  : — ''  This  immense  collection  was  made  with 
''  marvellous  industry  and  singular  care  by  one  who 
"  displayed  a  better  (judgment  than  Kennicott  in 
''  such  matters.''  ("  Biblical  Criticism,"  p.  225.) 
The  result  of  this  highly  finished  examination  and 
comparison  has  made  it  certain  that  the  Masoretic, 
the  only  Hebrew  text  now  existing,  is  substantially 
correct.  This  is  only  what  could  be  expected, 
seeing  how  careful  the  Jews  always  were  of  pre- 
serving the  purity  of  their  sacred  wiitings,  as 
has  been  abundantly  proved  by  the  history,  already 
given,  of  the  labours  of  Esdras  and  the  Masorets./ 

The  Greek  text  ^of  the  JVeiv  Testament  has  been 
also  closely  examined  by  distinguished  experts.  On 
the  Protestant  side,  Griesbach  (1796),  is  pronounced 
to  be  ''  the  most  consummate  critic  that  ever  under- 
took an  edition  of  the  iPTew  Testament,"  and  yet  in 
our  own  day  he  has  been  surpassed  by  Tischendorf 
(1841-1873),   who  is  said  to  have   '^crowned  the 


INTEGRITY   OF   THE    OLD    AND    NEW   TESTAMENTS.         79 

edifice"  of  l^ew  Testament  criticism.  At  great 
expense  of  time,  and  after  much  patient  study,  lie 
inspected  every  manuscript  copy,  version  and  frag- 
ment of  the  Grreek  text,  to  be  found  in  all  countries, 
and  from  these  he  reaped  a  rich  harvest  of  materials 
for  the  purposes  of  correction.  The  multitude  of 
various  readings,  thus  collected,  he  set  forth  in  order, 
with  an  account  of  the  sources  from  which  they  were 
drawn,  and  this  is  the  Apparatus  criticus  with 
which  his  own  emended  text  was  fortified.  But 
like  spots  upon  the  sun,  the  virus  of  his  religious 
principles  obscures  the  brilliancy  of  his  critical 
faculty.  For  instance,  in  the  fifth  verse  of  the 
ninth  chapter  from  the  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the 
Eomans — ''  Whose  are  the  father,  and  of  whom 
'^  is  Christ  according  to  the  flesh-:  who  is  over  all 
'^  things,  God  blessed  for  ever.  Amen."  Tischen- 
dorf  has  arbitrarily  inserted  a  full  stop  between 
''  things  "  and  '^  God,"  in  order  to  strengthen  the 
views  held  by  the  Socinians,  who  deny  the  divinity 
of  our  Lord.  With  the  same  object  he  has  dropped 
out  of  his  text  the  well-known  seventh  verse,  in 
defence  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  from  the  fifth 
chapter  of  St.  John's  first  Epistle : — ''  And  there 
^'are  three  who  give  testimony  in  heaven,  the 
^^  Father,  the  Word  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  And 
these  three  are  one."  Thus  bigotry  has  shattered 
one  of  the  finest  monument  of  critical  scholarship./ 
Among  the  Catholic  scholars,  who  devoted  them- 


80  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

selves  to  the  criticism  of  the  "New  Testament  a  high 
place  is  occupied  by  Dr.  Scholz,  Professor  in  the 
University  of  Bonn,  about  1830.  During  twelve 
years  he  visited  all  the  libraries  of  the  world,  and 
discovered  sources  hitherto  unknown,  for  helping  to 
arrive  at  the  original  reading.  / 

The  thorough  nature  of  this  textual  investigation 
of  the  Bible,  and  its  triumph  to  the  Catholic  Church 
has  been  eloquently  described  by  the  late  Cardinal 
Wiseman: — '^  But  in  all  their  mass,"  he  says, 
^^  although  every  attainable  source  has  been  ex- 
*^  hausted ;  although  the  writings  of  Fathers  of 
*'  every  age  have  been;  gleaned  for  their  readings ; 
''  although  the  versions  of  every  nation,  Arabic, 
"  Syrian,  Coptic,  Armenian,  and  Ethiopian 
"  have  been  ransacked  for  their  renderings ; 
^^  although  manuscripts  of  every  age  from  the 
^^  sixteenth  upwards  to  the  third,  and  of  every 
''  country,  have  been  again  and  again  visited  by 
^^  industrious  savants  to  rifle  them  of  their  treasures ; 
^^  although  having  exhausted  the  stores  of  the 
*^  West,  critics  have  travelled  like  naturalists  into 
^*  distant  lands  to  discover  new  specimens,  have 
"  visited,  like  Scholz  or  Sebastiani,  the  recesses  of 
**  Mount  Athos,  or  the  unexplored  libraries  of  the 
**  Egyptian  and  Syrian  deserts — yet  has  nothing 
"  been  discovered — no,  not  one  single  various  read- 
*'  ing  which  can  thi'ow  doubt  upon  any  passage 
"  before  considered  certain,  or  decisive  in  favour  of 


INTEGRITY   OF   THE    OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.         81 

'^  any  important  doctrine."  (Lecture  x.  on  Science 
and  Eevealed  Eeligion,  p.  145).  And  at  page  354, 
''  We  must  feel  great  satisfaction  at  the  small 
^'  difference  between  the  best  and  the  most  inferior 
'^  manuscripts,  and  consequently  at  the  consoling 
"  manner  in  which  the  integrity  of  the  inspired 
'^  records  has  been  preserved. '^  Therefore  the 
grand  fact  stands  out  that  the  stream  of  time  and 
use  which  is  continually  corroding  the  fabrics  of 
other  writings,  passes  by  the  imperishable  text  of 
the  Scriptures  without   inflicting   inaterial  injury./ 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  there 
were  a  few  distinguished  Catholic  theologians  of  good 
reputation  in  the  16th  century,  who  characterized 
the  Hebrew  text  as  tainted  even,  in  essentials. 
This  happened  when  the  champions  of  the 
'^  Eeformation '^  attacked  the  reputation  of  the 
Latin  Vulgate.  They  flaunted  before  the  public  gaze 
a  number  of  passages  in  the*  Old  Testament  where 
the  Yulgate  differed  merely  in  form  from  the  Hebrew. 
Melchior  Canus  (Book  ii.,  Chapter  xii.,  de  locis 
theologicis),  and  Salmeron  (in  Prolegomeno  iv"*  in 
Evangelia),  met  this  charge  by  a  declaration  to  the 
effect  that  the  Jews  wilfully  and  unscrupulously 
falsified  the  Hebrew  text,  to  set  aside  the  argu- 
ments taken  from  it  in  support  of  the  Christian 
religion.  No  doubt  this  motive  had  an  influence 
for  evil  on  the  Jews,  but  never  to  the  extent  of 
mutilating  or  interpolating  what  they   held  most 


82  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

sacred,  namely,  the  Hebrew  text.  It  drove  tliein 
to  pervert  the  true  meaning  of  some  of  the  ancient 
prophecies  in  Greek  versions  of  their  owd,  made 
purposely  to  set  aside  the  authority  of  the  Septua- 
gint,  which  was  adverse  to  their  system.  This  was 
the  crime  which  called  forth  the  erudition  of  Origen, 
and  evoked  St.  Jerome's,  St.  Justin's,  and  St. 
Chrysostom's  scathing  denunciation.  / 

The  Eules  for  Determining  the  True  Eeading 
OF  ANY  Disputed  Passage  in  the  Bible: — These 
great  labours  of  Biblical  critics  have  done  more  than 
prove  the  truth  of  the  Catholic  teaching  that  God  has 
safeguarded  the  substantial  integrity  of  the  Bible; 
they  have  furnished  an  effectual  means  of  discovering 
those  non-essential  variations,  which  made  their 
way  into  the  Scripture  text  on  account  of  the  vicissi- 
tudes through  which  it  passed,  as  well  as  of  deter- 
mining the  true  reading  of  any  disputed  passage  in 
either  the  Old  or  !N'ew  Testament.  For  instance,  in 
Matthew  (xxvi.  26),  the  Latin  of  the  Yulgate  trans- 
lated faithfully  into  English  is  : — ^'  Jesus  took 
^'  bread,  and  blessed,  and  broke :  and  gave  to  his 
''  disciples,  and  said :  take  ye  and  eat ;  this  is  my 
*'body,"  which  literally  shows  that  what  was 
merely  bread  in  coming  into  the  hands  of  Jesus, 
passed  through  an  entire  change  into  His  real  body, 
as  soon  as  "He blessed,  broke,  and  gave  it  to  His 
disciples."  But  in  the  authorized  Protestant  version 
the  particle    "it"  occurs  after  blessed,  broke,  and 


IXTEGRITY   OF   THE    OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.  83. 

gave  : — '^  Jesus  took  bread  and  blessed  ^V,  and  broke 
"  ttj  and  gave  it  to  His  disciples,  and  said,  Take,  eat, 
"  this  is  my  body,"  to  convey  the  anti-Catholic 
meaning  that  what  Jesus  took  into  His  hands  was 
simply  bread  and  nothing  more  from  beginning  to 
end.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  the  revision  of  the 
Authorized  Yersion  (1881),  the  word  it  is  omitted 
in  two  places  but  retained  in  the  third,  thus  : — 
^^  Jesus  took  bread,  and  blessed,  and  brake  it;  and  he 
gave  to  the  disciples,  and  said,  Take,  eat ;  this  is  my 
body."  To  decide  this  issue  the  readings  of  the 
various  manuscripts  and  printed  copies  of  the  Greek 
Testament  are  to  be  compared  with  the  Yulgate,  and 
the  way  in  which  the  passage  is  found  written  in 
the  greater  number  of  these  sources  is  so  far 
the  correct  one.  This  majority,  however,  must 
be  made  up  of  independent  witnesses,  that  is, 
each  manuscript  and  printed  copy  is  to  repre- 
sent a  distinct  origin,  so  that  in  no  instance 
can  one  be  a  transcript  from  the  other.  Now,  if 
the  disputed  reading  came  from  a  Hebrew  source, 
one  will  not  have  to  consult  more  than  the  750 
copies,  which  number  passed  through  the  hands  of 
the  learned  De  Eossi,  and  not  even  one  of  them 
is  older  than  the  ninth  century,  while  all  represent 
the  text  as  corrected  by  the  Masorets.  If  the 
question  turns  upon  the  originals  of  the  New 
Testament,  nearly  twice  that  number  of  copies  must 
be  scanned./ 


84  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

Classificatioit  of  the  Greek  New  Testament 
MSS.  INTO  Families  : — As  the  Greek  transcripts 
were  being  examined  separately  by  Bengel,  a 
distinguished  German  commentator,  in  1742,  he 
detected  such  a  striking  resemblance  between 
the  manuscripts  of  a  collection,  made  from  the 
large  heap  before  him,  that  one  fairly  represented 
all  the  others,  belonging  to  the  same  assemblage. 
The  remaining  unexamined  manuscripts  were 
then  inspected  by  him,  when  each  disclosed  the 
same  remarkable  likeness  as  that  presented  by 
the  members  of  the  first  group,  and  thus  the 
numerous  ISTew  Testament  Greek  copies  came  to 
be  classified  mio  families.  The  cause  of  this  resem- 
blance was  also  discovered  by  Bengel  at  the  same 
time.  He  traced  it,  for  the  copies  of  the  first 
family,  to  the  fact  that  they  were  taken  from  a 
Greek  Testament  revision,  founded  on  quotations, 
made  by  Origen  in.  his  Homilies.  The  second 
family,  he  believed,  had  evidently  inherited  their 
uniform  appearance  from  St.  Lucian's  and  Hesy- 
chius's  revisions,  which  incurred  the  censure  of  St. 
Jerome  for  replacing  the  rough  but  honest  Hebrew- 
isms  of  the  old  text  with  polished  but  ambiguous 
Greek.  This  happy  thought  of  Bengel's  was  still 
cnide  in  1796,  when  Griesbach  matured  it  by 
arranging  all  the  Greek  manuscripts,  to  be  found, 
into  three  families — the  "Western,  Alexandrian,  and 
Bvzantine.     The  Greek  Testament  quotations,  with  / 


INTEGRITY   OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW  TESTAMENTS.       85 

which  the  works  of  Origen  and  of  St.  Clement  of 
Alexandria  abounded,  were,  in  Griesbach's  estima- 
tion, equivalent  to  a  new  revision,  out  of  which  he 
drew  the  whole  Alexandrian  family  of  Greek  copies. 
The  writings  of  Tertullian,  St.  Cyprian  of  Carthage, 
and  other  lights  of  the  Western  Church,  suggested 
another  large  and  important  family — the  Western ; 
while  the  third,  or  Byzantine  family  had  its  origin 
in  a  revision  belonging  to  the  fourth  century,  and 
universally  adopted  throughout  the  Patriarchate  of 
Constantinople  or  Byzantium.  And  thus  instead  of 
being  obliged  to  collate  the  1,400  Greek  copies, 
known  at  present,  as  well  as  the  many  more  that 
might  be  found  in  the  future,  one  will  have  to 
consult  a  solitary  member  only  from  each  of  the 
three  families.  This  is  most  decidedly  a  relief  from 
the  Herculean  labours  previously  borne  by  indefati- 
gable workers  like  Walton  (1667)  and  Mill  (1707). 
It  is  not,  however,  pretended  that  this  division  of 
Giiesbach's  is  perfect  in  every  minute  detail,  and 
yet  some  Biblical  scholars  reject  it  on  this  account, 
but  critics  of  the  greatest  weight,  like  Tischendorf, 
have  adopted  if,  with  slight  modifications,  while 
all  do  not  join  Griesbach  in  setting  the  highest 
critical  value  on  the  Alexandrian  family.  At  the 
same  time  it  is  right  to  state  that  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment manuscripts  which  approach  nearest  to  the 
autographs  in  point  of  time,  are,  by  a  consensus  of 
learned  opinion,  those  of  the  Alexandrian  family. 


86  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

and  so  they  stand  highest  in  critical  authority. 
The  truth  is  that  the  old  Latin  Yersion  (Yetus 
Italica),  whieh  St.  Jerome  made  the  substratum 
of  the  Yulgate  edition,  has  been  taken  from  the 
Alexandrian  collection,  and  hence  the  bulk  of 
Protestant  critics  affect  ta  depreciate  the  superiority 
of  the  Alexandrian  family,  by  making  it  inferior 
for  instance  to  the  Byzantine. 

Whether  the  manuscripts  of  the  Alexandrian 
family  approach  nearer  than  those  of  the  Byzantine 
collection  to  the  originals  in  point  of  time,  may  be 
disputed,  but  it  is  beyond  controversy  that  some  of 
the  Greek  manuscripts  now  existing  are  as  old  as 
the  fourth  century,  and  therefore-  are  better  witnesses 
for  the  true-  reading  in  the  New^  than  existing 
Hebrew  manuscripts,  are  for  the  Old  Testament./ 

Printed  Editions: — And,  now,  it  is  well  to  notice 
these  printed  editions  of  the  Bible,  which  may  be 
usefully  consulted  in  fixing  the  correct  reading  of 
the  Scripture  text.  The-  Greek  Testament  was  first 
printed  (1514)  by  Cardinal  Ximenes  in  his  cele- 
brated Complutensian  Polyglot,,  already  described. 
This  was  followed  in  succession  from  1516  to  1535 
by  five  editions,  frem  the  fertile  but  not  very 
accurate  pen  of  Erasmus,  and  from  these,  together 
with  the  Complutensian  Polyglot  came  the  many 
splendid  editions  of  the  Greek  Testament,  which 
constitute  the  glory  of  Biblical  criticism  in  these  later 
times.     Then  the  Erench  publisher,  Etienne,  subsi- 


INTEGRITY    OF   THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENTS.         87 

dized  by  a  grant  from  the  Eoyal  purse,  sent  forth  no 
fewer  than  four  editions  in  the  five  years  between 
1546  and  1551.  Theodore  Beza,  taking  Etienne's 
third  edition  as  his  groundwork,  produced  from  1546 
to  1598,  five  editions,  severely  critical,  but  highly 
seasoned  with  his  own  Calvinistic  tendencies.  These, 
in  turn,  supplied  the  Elzevirs,  enterprising  printers 
at  Ley  den  in  1624,  with  the  material  for  several 
new  editions.  In  their  preface  to  the  third  edition 
they  called  their  text  receptus^  and  since  then  it  is 
known  as  the  common  Greek  text.  It  was  this 
third  edition  that  formed  the  basis  of  Walton's 
excellent  Greek  Testament  in  his  London  Polyglot 
(1657),  and  of  the  still  more  correct  edition  of  Dr. 
Mill  (Oxford,  1707),  which  cost  him  thirty  years 
hard  work,  and  in  that  time  he  collected  and  com- 
pared some  30,000  various  readings.  / 

Bengel  (1734),  Wetstein  (1751),  and  Griesbach 
(1796),  occupied  in  Germany  the  same  place  as 
Walton  and  Mill  did  in  England,  namely,  that  of 
the  first  men  of  the  age  in  publishing  the  most 
correct  New  Testament  Greek  text.  Among  the 
most  recent  contributors  to  this  important  depart- 
ment of  Biblical  criticism  may  be  mentioned  Dr. 
Scholz  (1830),  and  Lachman  (1831).  But  Tis- 
chendorf  (1841-1873),  is  justly  entitled  to  the 
praise  of  having  published  a  purer  Greek  text  than 
any  hitherto  known,  though  it  is  here  and  there 
disfigured  with  the  traces  of  his  own  tenets./ 


88  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

The  whole  of  the  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew  with 
vowel  points,  but  not  the  Masora,  was  printed  for 
the  first  time  in  1488,  at  Soncino,  a  town  in  Lom- 
bardy.  An  improved  edition  was  published  six 
years  later  in  Brescia,  and  it  is  remarkable  for 
being  the  basis  of  Luther's  German  translation  of 
the  Old  Testament.  The  second  Hebrew  Bible  was 
printed  also  with  the  vowel  points  in  the  Compluten- 
sian  Polyglot  (1514).  After  this  Daniel  Bomberg,  a 
wealthy  printer  of  Venice,  employed  the  distinguished 
Eabbi  Ben-Chajim  in  bringing  through  the  press  a 
new  edition  of  the  Hebrew  Bible.  It  came  out  in 
1526,  with  the  commentaries  of  the  Eabbins  attached, 
and  hence  its  name  of  the  Eabbinical  Bible.  This 
held  the  field  for  some  140  years,  when  it  made 
way  first  for  the  fine  Hebrew  Bible  edited  by  the 
learned  Leusden,  and,  secondly,  for  the  edition  of 
Yan-der-Hooght,  the  best  yet  produced,  and  which 
has  been  followed  in  every  edition  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  since  published.  / 

The  ancient  and  modern  versions  throw  great 
light  upon  the  state  of  the  text,  and  must  not, 
therefore,  be  ignored  in  deciding  the  true  reading 
of  any  passage  in  the  Greek  or  Hebrew  of 
the  Bible.  In  this  matter,  however,  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  the  ancient  are  of  more 
weight  than  the  modern  versions,  since  they  carry 
the  reader  back  nearer  to  the  originals.  Then  the 
closer  a  version  follows  the  text  which  it  represents, 


INTEGRITY    OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENTS.       89 

the  better  it  is  as  a  witness  of  th.e  true  reading. 
Yersions,  therefore,  are  an  important  factor  in  this 
and  similar  investigations,  and  the  older  and  more 
literal  they  are  the  greater  is  their  authority, 
provided  they  have  been  made  by  persons  well 
acquainted  with  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and 
especially  if  they  belong  to  a  time  when  the 
language  of  the  originals  was  still  living. 

The  correct  reading  is  confirmed  by  examining 
and  comparing  the  quotation  of  the  passage  in  the 
writings  of  the  early  Fathers  and  the  Liturgy  of 
the  Church.  The  same  Old  Testament  quotations,  if 
found  in  the  New  Testament,  in  the  writings  of 
Josephus,  in  the  Talmud,  in  the  marginal  notes  of 
the  Masora,  will  help  to  dispel  any  difficulties  that 
may  darken  the  readings  of  the  Hebrew  text. 
This  extrinsic  evidence  can  be  greatly  strengthened 
by  such  intrinsic  testimony  as  is  supplied  by  the 
scope  and  style  of  the  writers,  by  the  context  and 
parallelism,  so  that  whenever  a  link  is  found  wanting 
in  the  chain  of  extrinsic  evidence  this  can  be 
supplied  by  intrinsic  criteria.  / 

To  sum  up,  therefore,  the  Greek  Testament  has 
been  collated  with  its  various  manuscripts  and 
printed  editions;  with  its  ancient  and  modern  ver- 
sions, as  well  as  fragments,  found  in  the  writings  of 
the  Fathers  and  in  the  Liturgies  of  the  early  Church. 
So  too,  the  Hebrew  Bible  has  been  critically  com- 
pared with  its  own  copies  and  editions,  its  versions. 


90  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

its  quotations  in  the  "New  Testament,  in  the  Jewish 
commentaries,  and  writings  of  the  Christian  Church. 
And  now  what  is  the  outcome  ?  That  the  substance 
of  the  text  has  been  found  to  be  untouched,  while 
the  alterations  are  removed  and  the  true  reading 
fixed.  / 


CEAPTEE  YI. 

CREDIBILITY  OF  THE  OLD  AXD  NEW  TESTAMENTS. 

/  Definition  of  Credibility — Credibility  of  New  Testament  proved 
1°  by  character  of  those  sent  to  teach  truths  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  11°  by  miracles — By  these  miracles  the  established  order 
of  nature  was  neither  violated  nor  suspended — Hume  in  his  ' '  Essay 
on  Miracles"  (1742),  failed  to  prove  these  miracles  incredible — 
Between  these  miracles  and  the  laws  of  nature  harmony  prevails — 
In  these  miracles  one  sees  that  the  Divine  will  works  out  its  bene- 
ficent object  not  in  the  ordinary  way — The  fact  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment miracles  is  certain — The  miracles  of  New  Testament  not 
produced  by  any  secondary  cause — ^The-  Catholic  argument 
regarding  these  miracles  cogently  put  by  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin — 
The  Atheistic  or  Rationalistic  mode  of  accounting  for  the 
miracles  of  New  Testament — ^These  miracles  treated  by  Strauss 
and  Renan  as  mythical  traditions — How  German  Rationalists 
of  the  Heidelberg  School  explain  these  miracles — Knowledge 
of  laws  and  properties  of  nature  possessed  by  Spirits — Miracles  of 
New  Testament  were  not  effected  by  the  agency  of  Spirits — The 
miraculous  cures  in  the  Gospel — Some  facts  taken  from  Gospel 
history  to  cast  suspicion  on  its  credibility — Credibility  of  Old 
Testament  proved  by  testimony  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles.  / 

'^Credibility  is  the  quality  of  being  worthy  of 
belief,  and  this  belongs  to  the  Eible  if  its  doctrines 
and  facts  command  the  fullest  confidence. 

The  Credibility  of  the  New  Testament  is 
established  : — I.  By  the  character  of  the  men  sent 
to  promulgate  its  truths.  Some  of  these  divine 
legates  were  present  at  what  they  relate,  while  the 


92  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTUIIES. 

olhers  had  their  information  from  immediate 
witnesses.  The  Evangelist,  St.  John,  says: — "That 
"  Avhich  was  from  the  beginning,  which  we  have 
"  heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which 
"  we  have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled, 
"  of  the  word  of  life.  .  .  .  That  which  we  have 
"  seen  and  have  heard,  we  declare  unto  you,  tha*: 
"  you  also  may  have  fellowship  with  us,  and  our 
"  fellowship  may  be  with  the  Father,  and  with  His 
*-Scn,  Jesus  Christ"  (I  Epistle  i.  1-3).  And  St. 
Luke  declares  : — "  According  as  they  have  delivered 
"  them  unto  us,  Avho  from  the  beginning  were  eye- 
*•  witnesses,  and  ministers  of  the  word  "  (St.  Lukei. 
2).  What  they  thus  acquired  was  faithfully  delivered 
because  it  was  impossible  for  unlearned  men  as  they 
were,  to  fabricate  ih.e  moral  sublimity  of  the  char- 
acter of  Christ.  Besides  they  could  not  impose  upon 
the  public  for  purposes  of  gain  or  other  selfish  objects. 
Their  doctrines  were  preached  in  some  of  the  great 
centres  of  civilization,  and  warmly  adopted  by  many, 
who  were  sure  to  satisfy  themselves,  antecedently, 
that  the  faith,  proposed  for  their  acceptance,  was 
what  it  professed  to  be.  There  was  question  of  their 
embracing  the  system  of: — "  Christ  crucified,  unto 
the  Jews,  indeed,  a  stumbling  block,  and  unto  the 
Gentiles  foolishness  "  (1  Corinthians  i.  23).  They 
were  asked  therefore,  to  profess  the  Christian  religion, 
Avhich,  in  its  practice,  required  from  them  an  uncon- 
ditional surrender  of  m:my  things  they  held  dear.  \ 


CREDIBILITY   OF   THE    OLD   AND   NEW    TESTAMENTS.       93 

II.  By  the  Miracles  of  the  Old  and  ISTew 
Testament: — That  these  miracles  furnish  an  irre- 
fragable argument  for  the  credibility  of  the  Bible 
follows  from  the  fact  that  by  them  God  wished  to 
confirm  what  was  taught  in  His  name.  He  accord- 
ingly directed  His  official  representatives  to  work 
these  miracles  as  a  proof  that  it  was  God  Himself 
who  spoke.  It  was  with  these  credentials  Moses 
and  the  Prophets  were  commissioned  to  carry  the 
Divine  message  to  the  chosen  people.  Again  when 
Jesus  appointed  the  Apostles  to  teach  His  doctrines, 
He  told  them  to  "  heal  the  sick,  raise  the  dead, 
cleanse  the  lepers,  cast  out  devils  "  (Mathew  x.  8). 
They  acted  accordingly: — "But  they  going  forth 
preached  everywhere,  the  Lord  working  withal,  and 
confirming  the  word  with  signs  that  followed '' 
(Mark  xvi.  20).  / 

Our  Blessed  Lord  avowed  more  than  once  that 
His  miracles  were  intended  to  be  a  public  proof 
of  His  Divine  teaching.  When  the  Pharisees  up- 
braided Him  with  "  casting  out  devils  by  Beelzebub, 
the  prince  of  devils,"  He  forcibly  answered  : — "But 
if  I  by  the  finger  of  God  cast  out  devils,  doubtless 
the  Kingdom  of  God  has  come  upon  you"  (Luke 
xi.  20).  And  on  a  memorable  occasion  when  the 
Jews  threatened  "to  stone"  Jesus  because  He  said, 
"I  and  the  Father  are  one,"  His  gentle  remon- 
strance was : — "  If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father, 
"  believe  me  not.     But  if  I  do,  though  you  will  not 


94  INTRODUCTION    TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

"  believe  me,  believe  the  works,  that  you  may  know 
"  and  believe  that  the  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  in  the 
•  "Father"  (John  X.  37,  38)./ 

The  Apostles,  like  their  Divine  Master,  appeal  to 
these  miracles  as  a  proof  that  the  Gospel,  which  they 
announced,  was  from  God.  For  instance,  St.  John 
says: — "  Many  other  signs  also  did  Jesus  in  the  sight 
**  of  His  disciples,  which  are  not  written  in  this  book. 
*^But  these  are  written^  that  you  may  believe  that 
'^  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Sou  of  God,  and  that 
"believing  you  may  have  life  in  His  name''  (John 
XX.  30,  31),  and  St.  Peter  in  his  discourse  at  the 
time  of  Pentecost  spoke  thus  : — "  Ye  men  of  Israel, 
"hear  these  words,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  man 
"approved  of  God  among  you,  by  miracles  and 
"wonders  and  signs,  which  God  did  by  him  in  the 
"  midst  of  you,  as  you  also  know  "  (Acts  ii.  22)./ 

Py  these  miracles  the  established  order  of  nature 
has  neither  been  violated  nor  suspended,  and  conse- 
quently Hume  has  failed  to  prove  these  miracles 
incredible  when  he  argues  in  his  "  Essay  on 
Miracles  "  (1742)  that  such  a  violation  or  suspension 
was  absolutely  impossible.  The  laws  that  govern 
the  world  have  their  source  in  the  providence  of 
God,  so  that  they  cannot  be  in  opposition  to  the 
Divine  will.  Now  God  wishes  that  miracles  be 
performed  for  certain  ends,  and,  therefore,  between 
them  and  the  laws  of  nature  a  perfect  harmony 
prevails.     How  this  concord  may  be  effected  is  not 


CREDIBILITY    OF   THE    OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.       95 

given  to  man  here  below  to  understand.  In  these 
miracles,  without  being  able  to  ascertain  the 
way  by  which  the  marvellous  effect  has  been  pro- 
duced, one  sees  that  the  Divine  Will,  works 
out  its  beneficent  object  not  in  the  ordinary  way. 
And  thus  it  happens  that  the  acceptance  of  the 
Scripture  miracles  neither  subverts  the  government 
of  this  world  by  certain  fixed  laws,  nor  tends  to 
reduce  the  universe  to  its  original  chaos.  / 

The  fact  of  the  New  Testament  miracles  is 
CERTAIN  : — This  fact  was  confidently  brought  for- 
ward in  the  presence  of  our  Blessed  Lord's  determined 
enemies,  who  were  in  the  position  to  contradict  it  if 
they  could,  for  they  were  near  the  time  when,  and 
close  to  the  scene  where  Jesus  lived  and  died. 
Therefore  to  delude  the  public  mind  was  impossible 
in  the  circumstances.  Then  again,  these  miracles 
took  place  in  the  open  light  of  day,  and  were  pub- 
lished on  the  authority  of  personal  witnesses,  who 
could  not  be  deceived,  and  who  had  nothing  to 
expect  here  except  bitter  trials,  persecution,  and 
even  death  itself,  for  steadfastly  proclaiming  them.  / 

The  Miracles  of  the  ISTew  Testament  were 
not  produced  by  any  secondary  cause: — one 
of  the  most  impressive  of  the  'New  Testament 
miracles  was  the  raising  of  Lazarus  from  the  dead, 
which  is  told  by  St.  John  as  follows: — '^When 
"  Mary  therefore  was  come  where  Jesus  was,  seeing 
"Him  she  fell  down  at  His  feet,  and  saith  to  Him : 


96  INTRODUCTIOX   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPl'URES. 

"•  Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother  had  not 
"  died.  Jesus,  therefore,  when  He  saw  her  weeping, 
*^and  the  Jews  that  were  come  with  her,  weeping, 
^^  groaned  in  the  spirit,  and  troubled  Himself.  And 
^'said:  Where  have  you  laid  him?  They  say  to 
'^  Him :  Lord  come  and  see.  And  Jesus  wept. 
'^  The  Jews,  therefore,  said :  Behold  how  He  loved 
^^  him.  But  some  of  them  said :  Could  not  He  that 
'^  opened  the  eyes  of  the  man  bom  blind,  have 
^'  caused  that  this  man  should  not  die  ?  Jesus, 
'^therefore,  again  groaning  in  Himself,  cometh  to 
'Hhe  sepulchre.  Now  it  w^as  a  cave,  and  a  stone 
^^was  laid  over  it.  Jesus  saith :  Take  away  the 
''  stone.  Martha,  the  sister  of  him  that  was  dead, 
'^  saith  to  Him :  Lord,  by  this  time  he  stinketh,  for 
'^  he  is  now  of  four  days.  Jesus  saith  to  her :  Did 
"  not  I  say  to  thee,  that  if  thou  believe,  thou  shalt 
'^  see  the  glory  of  God  ?  They  took,  therefore,  the 
"  stone  away.  And  Jesus,  lifting  up  His  eyes  said : 
"  Father  I  give  Thee  thanks  that  Thou  hast  heard 
^^Me.  And  I  know  that  Thou  hearest  me  always, 
"but  because  of  the  people,  who  stand  about,  have 
"I  said  it;  that  they  may  believe  that  Thou  hast 
"  sent  Me.  When  He  had  said  these  things.  He  cried 
**  with  a  loud  voice :  Lazarus,  come  forth.  And 
"presently  he,  that  had  been  dead,  came  forth, 
"bound  feet  and  hands  with  winding-bands,  and  his 
"  face  was  bound  about  with  a  napkin.  Jesus  said 
"to  them:  Loose  him  and  let  him  go.      Many,/ 


CREDIBILITY   OF   THE   OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.       97 

"  therefore,  of  the  Jews,  who  were  come  to  Mary 
"  and  Martha,  and  had  seen  the  things  that  Jesus 
"  did,  believed  in  Him  "  (Gospel  of  St.  John  xi. 
32-45).  And  again: — "Jesus,  therefore,  six  days 
"  before  the  pasch  came  to  Bethania,  where  Lazarus 
"had  been  dead,  whom  Jesus  raised  to  life.  And 
"  they  made  Him  a  supper  there :  and  Martha 
"  served,  but  Lazarus  was  one  of  them  that  were  at 
"  table  with  Him  "  (Gospel  of  St.  John  xii.  1,  2). 
Here  then  it  is  related  that  Lazarus,  who  had  been 
so  long  dead  and  buried  as  to  be  rotting  in  the 
grave,  was  brought  back  to  life  by  our  Blessed  Lord, 
and  that  after  being  thus  restored,  took  his-  place 
once  more  among  the  family- circle,  filling  his 
vacant  seat  at  the  table,  and  joining:  in  the  daily 
duties: — "And  they  made  Him  a.  supper  there, 
"and  Martha  served,  but.  Lazarus  was  one  of 
"  them  that  were  at  table  with  Him."  Now  one  is 
forced  to  conclude  that^  this  miracle  was  effected, 
not  by  any  secondary  cause,  but  by  God  alone, 
"  Father,  I  give  Thee  thanks  that  Thou  hast  heard 
"  Me.  And  I  knew  that  Thou  hearest  Me  always,  but 
"  because  of  the  people  who  stand  about,  have  I  said 
"  it ;  that  they  may  believe  that  Thou  hast  sent  Me." 
So  too  when  the  disciples  of  St.  John,  the  Baptist, 
came  direct  from  their  master  to  ask  our  Divine 
Lord  : — "Art  Thou  He  that  art  to  come,  or  look  we 
"  for  another  ?  And  Jesus  making  answer,  said  to 
*  them:    Go   and  relate  to  John  what  you  have 

0 


98  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

''  heard  and  seen.  The  blind  see,  the  lame  walk, 
^^  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  rise 
^'  again,  the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them  " 
(Matthew  xi.  3-5).  No  power  of  man,  except  he  get  it 
from  God,  could  make  "the  blind  see,  the  deaf  hear, 
the  lame  walk,  and  the  dead  rise  again."  The  "Angel 
of  the  Schools,''  St.  Thomas,  writing  on  this  subject 
in  his  work  against  the  Gentiles  (Book  i.  Chapter  vi.) 
puts  the  Catholic  argument  cogently  when  he  says : 
— "  That  a  few  men  having  no  learning  or  temporal 
"  influence,  could  succeed  without  the  aid  of  miracles 
"in  converting  the  world  to  the  Christian  religion, 
"  so  difficult  of  assent  in  its  doctrines,  so  irksome  in 
"  its  precepts,  and  so  unreal  in  its  hopes,  was  the 
"greatest  of  all  miracles. "\ 
The   Atheistio   and   Eationalistic  method   of 

ACGOUNTINa  FOR  THE  MIRACLES  OF  THE  NeW  TESTA- 
MENT : — These  miracles,  therefore,  were  undoubted 
facts,  and  they  were  not  effected  by  any  secondary 
cause.  The  argument,  furnished  by  these  miracles 
is  so  conclusive  against  the  enemies  of  the  Christian 
religion  that  they  have  been  expending  their 
energies  in  a  childish  efi'ort  to  destroy  trust  in  their 
evidence.  And  so  in  the  "  Leben  Jesu  "  of  Strauss, 
as  well  as  in  the  "Yic  de  Jesus"  and  "Les 
Apotres"  of  Eenan,  to  which  allusion  has  been 
made,  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament  are 
explained  as  mythical  traditions,  that  prevailed 
among  the  Jews,  regarding  their  expected  Messias, 


CREDIBILITY   OF   THE   OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.       99  v 

and  which,  were  falsely,  but  cleverly  ascribed 
by  the  Evangelists  to  their  own  favourite.  This 
assertion,  however,  is  so  impossible  in  its  conception, 
as  to  excite  contempt  rather  than  serious  notice.  / 

German  Eationalists,  of  the  Heidelberg  School, 
while  admitting  the  fact  of  these  miracles,  try  to 
show  that  some  of  them,  as  the  raising  of  Lazarus 
from  the  dead,  were  the  result  af  collusion,  either 
between  the    parties  themselves,   or  between   the 
miracle-worker  and  the  evil  spirits,  as  in  the  case  of 
multiplying  "  the  five  loaves  and  two  fishes,"  so  as  to 
satisfy  ^^ five  thousand''  hungry  men.  (Matthew  xiv.) 
But  on  these,  as  on  other  occasions  of  the  kind, 
Jesus  was    closely  watched  by  very   sharp-witted 
men,  who  were  employed  by  the  Synagogue  for  the 
express  purpose  of  detecting  even  the  semblance  of 
any  such  deceit.     So  it   remained  for  the  modem 
enemies    of    the     Divinity    of     Christ    to    make 
the  pitiful  attempt,    to   say  nothing   of    its   blas- 
phemous   character.      It   is    to     be   observed,    in 
reference   to    the  power   of    the  spirits,   that,    as 
incorporeal  beings,  even   had  they   received   from 
God  a  knowledge  of  the  laws   and    properties   of 
nature,  which  might   render   them  equal  to    any 
of  the  miracles  of  the  Bible,   including    those   of 
the  Gospel,  still  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  these 
miracles  were  not  accomplished  by  the  agency  of 
either  angel  or  fiend.     God  decreed,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  these  miracles,  to  give  probative  force  to  the 


100  INTRODUCTION  TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

doctrines,  tauglit  in  His  name,  and  surely  He  would 
not  permit  the  spirits  to  usurp  this  divine  warrant, 
which  was  committed  exclusively  to  His  authorized 
teachers. 

It  is  also  pretended  that  the  persons,  represented 
in  the  Gospel  history  as  possessed^  were  merely 
epileptics  and  maniacs,  who  recovered  through  the 
application  of  the  usual  remedies,  and  that 
the  sick,  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  had 
their  health  restored  by  medicine,  while  the  blind^ 
the  lame,  and,  the  deaf  were  healed  by  surgical  treat- 
ment. These  cures,  however,  were  not  only  com- 
plete, but  instantaneous,  and;  consequently  could  not 
be  effected  by  any  natural  agency.\ 

There  are  in  the  Gospels  themselves  some  parts, 

which  are  commonly  brought  forward  to   weaken 

the  credibility    of   the    New    Testament    writers. 

Thus    in  St.    Luke's    Gospel^   (Chapter    ii.    1-5) 

it  is  stated  that  our  Lord  was  born  in  the  year  in 

which  Augustus    Caesar   ordered  a  census  of  his 

Empire,  and  that  this  census  was  made  under  the 

supervision  of  Cyrinus,  Governor  of  Syria.     Now  the 

Emperor  Augustus,  they  say,  instituted  no  such  census 

in  that  year,  for  it  is  not  mentioned  by  Tacitus, 

Suetonius,  or  Dion  Cassius,  who  faithfully  record  all 

the  acts  of  the  reign  of  Augustus  Csesar.      Besides 

Josephus  in  his  Antiquities  (xvii.  and  xviii.),  says 

that  this    Cyrinus  or    Quirinus,  did   not   become 

Governor  of  Syria  until  some  years  after  our  Lord's 


CREDIBILITY   OF   THE   OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.     101 

birth.  The  second  argument  advanced  against  this 
credibility  is  that  St.  Luke  does  not  say  one  word 
about  the  coining  of  the  Magi  to  the  crib,  the  flight 
into  Egypt,  or  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents,  though 
his  object  in  writing  the  Gospel  wa«  to  record  every 
detail  of  our  Lord's  birth  and  infancy.  Then,  St. 
Matthew  (ii.  1,  2,  3)  fixes  the  flight  into  Egypt 
immediately  after  the  departure  of  the  Magi,  and 
thus  leaves  no  interval  for  the  Purification,  and 
Presentation,  related  by  St.  Luke.  While  St.  Luke 
(ii.  7-43)  states  that  immediately  after  the  Presenta- 
tion the  Holy  Family  came  to  Nazareth,  and  dwelt 
there  permanently,  thus  leaving  no  room  for  the 
flight  into  Egypt,  mentioned  by  St.  Mathew.  But, 
in  answer  to  the  first  allegation,  Tacitus,  Suetonius, 
and  Dion  Cassius,  do  record  a  census,  commanded 
by  Augustus  Caesar  in  the  eighth  year  before  the 
Christian  era,  that  is,  three  years  previous  to  the 
birth  of  Christ,  for  the  Christian  era  dates  from  the 
fifth  year  after  our  Lord's  birth.  Thus  the  census 
would  be  instituted  in  the  third  year  before  the 
birth  of  Jesus,  and  completed  when  He  was  born.  It 
is  not  improbable  too  that  Cyrinus  was  specially  sent 
to  Syria  and  Palestine  to  preside  over  this  census, 
and  that  thirteen  years  after  when  Quinctilius  Varus 
died,  he  was  appointed  to  succeed  as  governor  of 
the  province  with  which  he  had  official  connection.^ 
As  to  the  second  allegation,  it  is  no  doubt  true 
that  St.  Luke,  in  writing  his  Gospel,  proposed  to 


102         INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SjaCRED   SCRIPTURES. 

give  the  Purification  and  Presentation,  etc.,  which 
were  not  mentioned  by  the  other  Evangelists ;  but 
his  object  was  not  certainly  ta  touch  upon  every 
detail  of  our  Lord's  life-.  Then  St.  Luke's  account 
does  not  contradict  that  of  St.  Matthew,  for  St.  Luke 
states  that  the  Presentation  and  Purification  took 
place  forty  days  after  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  while 
St.  Matthew  begins  his  narrative  at  this  point,  and 
follows  with  the  account  of  the  coming  of  the 
Magi,  and  of  the  flight  into  Egypt..  This  explana- 
tion would  require,  no  doubt,  that  the  Magi  adored 
the  Divine  infant  in  Nazareth,  and  not  in  Bethlehem, 
and  such  an  event  is  very  probable.  V 

Credibility  of  the  Old  Testament: — Christ  and 
His  Apostles  pronounced  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures to  be  credible.  Their  declaration  to  this 
effect  is  given  in  the  New  Testament  Scriptures, 
and  the  testimony  of  these  writings  is  conclusive, 
seeing  that  they  are  not  only  genuine,  but  written 
by  truthful  men,  as  has  been  amply  demonstrated. 
St.  John,  the  Evangelist,  in  his  account  of  the  well- 
known  scene  at  the  "pond  called  Probatica,"  states 
that  the  wonderful  cure,  by  our  Blessed  Lord  of  "a 
certain  man  there,  who  had  been  eight  and  thirty 
years  under  his  infirmity,"  so  irritated  the  Jews  that: 
— "  Hereupon,  they  sought  the  more  to  kill  Him, 
because  He  did  not  only  break  the  Sabbath,  but  also 
said  God  was  His  Father,  making  Himself  equal  to 
God,"      The  veracity  of  Jesus  in  thus  *' making 


CREDIBILITY   OF   THE   OLD   AND   NEW   TESTAMENTS.     103 

himself  equal  to  God  "  was  publicly  impeached  by 
the  Jews,  and  He  met  the  challenge  by  referring 
them  to  their  Scriptures  as  the  collection  of  the  Old 
Testament  books  was  then  familiarly  designated  : 
"Search  the  Scriptures,  for  you  think  in  them  to 
"have  life  everlasting,  and  the  same  are  they  that 
"  give  testimony  of  Me  »  .  .  For  if  you  did  believe 
"  Moses,  you  would,  perhaps,  believe  Me  also.  For 
"he  wrote  of  Me.  But  if  you  do  nt)t  believe  his 
"writings,  how  will  you  believe  My  words?" 
(John  V.  18-47.)  Here  our  Blessed  Lord  rested  the 
proof  of  His  Divinity  on  the  credibility  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  in  particular  on  the  part  of  it,  which 
He  attributed  to  Moses. \ 

St.  Paul  exhorted  his  favourite  disciple,  Timothy, 
to  study  the  Old  Testament  assiduously,  because,  he 
said  it  "is  profitable  to  teach,  to  reprove,  to  correct, 
to  instruct  in  justice  "  (2  Epistle  to  Timothy  iii. 
16).  And  St.  Peter,  speaking  of  the  Old  Testament 
as  "  the  prophecy  of  Scripture,"  declared  it  to  have 
been  written  by  "  the  holy  men  of  God  .. .  .  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Ghost"  (2  Epistle- of  St.  Peter  i.  21). 
Would  these  Apostles  have  talked  so  confidently,  if 
they  had  not  been  fully  convinced  of  the  credibility 
of  the  Old  Testament  ?  And  what  they  published 
in  this  way  is  infallibly  true.  They  worked  miracles, 
and  it  has  been  shown  that  the  power  thus  exercised, 
was  given  expressly  by  God,  as  a  guarantee  that  the 
persons  who  performed  these  miracles,  were  clothed 


104  INTRODUCTTION   TO   THE   SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

■with  His  authority,  so  that  God  HimseK  is  security 
for  what  Christ  and  His  apostles  taught.\ 

Then,  there  is  nothing  in  the  Pentateuch  but 
what  Moses  could  know  either  from  personal 
experience,  or  upon  the  testimony  of  persons,  whose 
exceptionally  long  lives,  brought  them  into  close 
connection  with  the  circumstances  mentioned.  The 
information  obtained,  through  these  channels, 
Moses  faithfully  registered,  for  he  neither  palliated 
nor  denied  his  own  sins,  nor  those  of  his 
brother,  Aaron,  and  his  sister,  Miriam.  The  same 
candour  marks  the  narrative  of  every  other 
writer  of  the  Old  Testament  books,  and  it  is  the  very 
best  evidence  of  their  having  been  truthful  through- 
out, not  to  speak  of  their  repeatedly  appealing  to 
the  public  annals,  or  official  records,  in  support  of 
what  they  affirm.  \ 


CHAPTEE  YII. 

INSPIEATION   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

\  Inspiration ;  what  it  is — ^That  the  writers  of  the  Bible  were  inspired 
is  of  divine  and  catholic  faith — Evidence  for  inspiration  of  the  whole 
Bible  to  be  found  in  Tradition  alone — Nature  of  inspiration  never 
solemnly  declared  by  Catholic  Church ;  but  she  has  defined  what 
it  is  not — Negative  and  positive  assistance;  what  they  are — It  is 
theologically  certain  that  inspiration  consists  not  in  negative  but 
in  Positive  Assistance — Extent  of  inspiration — It  covers  every 
truth,  either  doctrinal  or  moral  in  Scripture  ;  every  doctrinal  fact, 
and  every  historical  fact,  as  far  as  it  regards  its  substance — 
Cardinal  Newman  on  the  extent  of  inspiration — Verbal  inspiration 
— Not  only  the  sentences  in  the  Scripture  are  inspired,  but  the 
words,  where  such  are  necessary  to  express  correctly  any  of  the 
truths  or  facts — No  translation  of  the  Bible  inspired,  but  it  is 
defide  that  the  Latin  vulgate  is  authentic — Protestants,  but  not 
all,  admit  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible — The  arguments  they 
advance  fail  to  prove  it.  \ 

\ Inspiration  of  the  Bible: — Inspiration  is  the 
divine  influence  on  the  writers  of  the  Scripture, 
moving  their  wills  to  write,  enlightening  their 
minds  to  know  the  truths  they  are  .to  write,  and 
safeguarding  them  against  error  in  writing  what 
God  has  thus  proposed  to  them  to  be  written. 
St.  Paul,  in  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy 
(iii.  16),  assures  him  that  "all  the  holy  Scrip- 
ture," known  to  this  favourite  disciple  from  his 
infancy,  was  "  ©eoTrveuo-ros,"  literally  breathed  into  by 


106  INTRODUCTION   TO    THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

God.  This  divine  afflatus  under  tlie  name  of 
Inspiration  belongs  to  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
Books.  The  Catholic  Church  proposes  this  truth 
in  these  words  of  the  Vatican  Council  (1870) : — 
"  Further,  this  supernatural  revelation,  according 
*Ho  the  universal  belief  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
'^  declared  by  the  Sacred  Synod  of  Trent,  is 
*^  contained  in  the  written  books,  and  unwritten 
"traditions  which  have  reached  us,  having  been 
"received  by  the  Apostles  from  the  mouth  of 
"  Christ  Himself,  or  delivered  as  if  by  the  hands 
"  of  the  Apostles  from  the  dictation  of  the 
"Holy  Ghost.  And  these  books  of  the  Old  and 
"  I^ew  Testament  are  to.  be  received  as  Sacred  and 
"  Canonical  in  their  integrity  with  all  their  parts, 
"  as  they  are  enumerated  in  the  decree  of  the 
"  Sacred  Council,  and  are  contained  in  the  old 
"Latin  edition  of  the  Vulgate.  And  the  Church 
"holds  them  Sacred  and  Canonical  .  .  .  because 
"  having  been  written  hy  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy 
"  Ghost  (^Spiritu  Sancto  inspirante  conscriptae), 
"  they  have  God  for  their  author,  and  have  been 
"delivered  as  such  by  the  Church  herself." 
(Dogmatic  Constitution  on  the  Catholic  Faith. 
Chapter  ii.  of  Eevelation,  Sess.  iii.)  That  God, 
therefore,  inspired  the  writers  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  is  of  divine  and  catholic  faith,  and, 
like  every  other  catholic  dogma,  must  be  contained 
cither  in  Scripture  or  Tradition.  \ 


INSPIRATION    OF   THE    BIBLE.  107 

In  the  Scripture  mention  is  made  of  tlie  Old 
Testament  having  been  written  by  command  of  God 
(Exodus  xvii.  14 ;  Jeremias  xxx.  2  ;  Isaias  viii.  1 ; 
Ezechiel  xxiv.  2 ;  Habacuc  ii.  2 ;  and  Daniel 
xxii.  4) ;  and  St.  Paul  (2  Timothy  iii.  16),  says : — 
"All  Scripture  inspired  of  God  is  profitable  to 
teach,  to  reprove,  to  correct,  to  instruct  in  justice." 
St.  Peter,  too  (2nd  Epistle  i.  19-21),  writes  :— "  And 
"  we  have  the  more  firm  prophetical  word :  where- 
"unto  you  da  well  to  attend,  as  ta  a  light  that 
"  shineth  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn,  and 
"  the  day-star  arise  in  your  hearts.  Understanding 
"  this  first  that  no  prophecy  of  Scripture  is  made 
"  by  private  interpretation.  For  prophecy  came 
"not  by  the  will  of  man  at  any  time;  but  the 
"  holy  men  of  God  spoke,  inspired  hy  the  Holy  Ghost 
"  (vTTo  TTvcv/AttTos  aytov  <|)epo/xci/oi)."  This  testimony  of 
the  Apostles,  unlike  that  quoted  above  from 
Exodus  and  the  Prophets,  is  sufiiciently  explicit ; 
but  it  can  have  reference  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
Old  Testament  only.\ 

The  Scripture  evidence  for  the  inspiration  of  the 
IS'ew  Testament  writers  is  taken  1**  from  the  2nd 
Epistle  of  St.  Peter  (iii.  15),  recommending  to  the 
faithful  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  because  they  are  "  written 
according  to  the  wisdom,  given  himP  This  announce- 
ment of  inspiration  begins  and  ends  with  St.  Paul's 
Epistles,  and  they  are  not  the  whole  of  the  Kew 
Testament.     2**.  In  St.  John's  Gospel  (xiv.,  xv.  and 


108  INTRODUCTION    TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

xvi.),  Jesus  promised  to  make  tlie  Apostles  and  their 
successors  infallible  for  ever.  '^  The  Holy  Ghost 
Avhom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  will 
teach  you  all  things."  But  infallibility  and 
insi'iration  are  not  convertible  terms.  Hence 
it  follows  that  the  fact  of  the  inspiration  of  the  whole 
Eible  can  be  found  in  Tradition  alone,  that  is,  the 
collection  of  Divine  truths,  delivered  orally  by  the 
Apostles,  and  the  pastors  of  the  Church  in  regular 
succession,  under  the  active  presence  of  the  Paraclete. 
The  value  of  this  oral  teaching  in  the  Catholic 
Church  is  estimated  by  St.  Augustine  when  he 
writes  : — '^  I  would  not  believe  the  Gospel  if  the 
authority  of  the  Church  did  not  move  me  thereto." 
(Book  against  Manes' s  Epistle  of  the  Foundation, 
Chap.  Y.J  V 

Nature  of  Inspiration. — The  Catholic  Church 
has  finally  decided  not  only  that  the  inspiration  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  is  part  of  the  Christian 
faith;  but  that  this  inspiration  does  not  consist 
either  in  these  Scriptures  '^  containing  revelation 
without  error,"  or  in  their  being  the  writer's 
own  work,  and  then  approved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  This  is  what  the  Vatican  Council  pro- 
poses in  the  following  terms  : — ^'  And  the  Church 
holds  them  "  (the  books  of  the  Old  and  Is  ew  Testa- 
ment), "  Sacred  and  Canonical,  not  because  having 
^'  been  composed  by  human  industry  alone,  they 
''  were  afterwards  approved  by  her  authority,  nor 


INSPIRATION    OF    THE    BIBLE.  lUi) 

''  merely  because  they  contain  the  revelation  without 
''  error."  (Dogmatic  Constitution  of  the  Catholic 
Faith,  Chap.  II.  of  Revelation,  Sess.  III.)  There- 
fore, while  the  Catholic  Church  has  not  declared 
what  is  the  nature  of  inspiration,  she  has  defined 
what  it  is  not. 

Positive  Assistance  : — God  is  said  to  have 
given  the  writers  of  the  Old  and  IN'ew  Testament 
positive  assistance  by  Istly,  moving  their  wills 
to  write ;  2ndly,  proposing  to  the  mind  of  these 
writers  not  merely  the  truths  they  were  to  set  forth 
in  the  holy  Scripture  ;  but  His  divine  wish  that 
these  truths  only  should  be  written;  and  3rdly, 
making  the  writer's  minds  proof  against  error  in 
recording  what  He  thus  conveyed  to  them  to  be 
written.  \ 

Negative  Assista:nce  : — The  divine  concurrence 
with  the  sacred  writers,  that  lies  in  the  third  or  last 
constituent  principle  of  positive  assistance  is  called 
negative  assistance,  because  by  it  God  exercised  a 
mere  negative  influence  on  their  minds  by  pre- 
venting them  from  the  possibility  of  error.  Assuredly 
this  negative  assistance  would  render  the  writers  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  infallible.  But  it  is  one 
thing  to  protect  their  minds  from  the  danger  of 
error,  and  quite  a  different  thing  to  make  them 
acquainted  with  the  divine  truths  to  be  written. 
The  Fathers  of  a  General  Council  are  infallible, 
and  their  decrees  without  taint  of  error ;  but  it  has 


110  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

never  been  even  contended,  that  these  Fathers  and 
their  decrees  are  inspired.  \ 

Though  the  nature  of  inspiration  has  not 
been  solemnly  settled  by  the  Church  it  is  theo- 
logically certain  that  inspiration  consists  not  in 
negative,  but  in  positive  assistance.  And,  indeed, 
the  dogma  of  inspiration  proclaimed  by  the  Vatican 
Council  (1870),  merely  affirms  in  more  explicit 
language  that  God  is  the  Author  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  an  article  of  divine  and  Catholic 
faith  defined  by  the  Council  of  Florence  (1439), 
and  of  Trent  (1545-1563),  !N'ow,  it  is  impossible 
that  God  could  be  what  He  is  here  solemnly  pro- 
nounced to  be,  namely,  the  principal  Author  of  the 
Old  and  ^N'ew  Testament,  unless  He  disposed  the  wills 
of  the  immediate  writers  of  these  sacred  books  to 
their  work,  and  at  the  same  time  enlightened  their 
intellects  so  as  to  know  whatever  He  proposed  to 
them  to  write,  and  in  the  second  place  His  wish 
that  neither  more  nor  less  than  what  He  com- 
mitted to  them  should  be  written.  The  truths 
which  God  thus  ordained  to  be  communicated  to 
men  through  the  channel  of  the  Old  and  'New 
Testament  were  1**,  mysteries,  that  surpass  all 
human  understanding,  as  well  as  truths  not  above 
the  ken  of  reason,  and  the  light  by  which  He  made 
known  the  doctrines  contained  under  these  two 
heads,  is  revelation,  though  strictly  speaking 
this   is   applied    to   imparting    the   secrets    of  the 


INSPIRATION   OF   THE    BIBLE.  Ill 

Christian  faith.  2**.  Those  things  which  they  them- 
selves witnessed  or  received  from  persons  on  the  spot. 
This  St.  John  mentions  in  the  opening  words 
of  his  first  Epistle: — ^^That  which  was  from 
'^  the  beginning,  which  we  have  heard,  which 
"  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we 
''  have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled, 
'^  of  the  Word  of  Life :  for  the  life  was  mani- 
''  fested;  and  we  have  seen,  and  do  bear  witness, 
^^  and  declare  unto  you  the  life  eternal,  which  was 
''  with  the  Father,  and  hath  appeared  to  us ;  that 
'^  which  we  have  seen  and  heard  we  declare  unto 
"  unto  you."  As  to  these  facts  God  required 
merely  to  bring  them  back  to  the  the  writer's 
memory,  3^.    Passages   taken  out   of  profane 

authors  like  Epimenides,  from  whom  St,  Paul 
quotes  in  his  Epistle  to  Titus: — "The  Cretians 
are  always  liars,  evil  beasts,  slothful  bellies " 
(i.  12),  Again,  the  reproaches  of  Job's  friends, 
the  vain  reasonings  of  the  wicked  in  the 
Book  of  Wisdom  (chap,  ii.),  and  the  words  of  the 
man  bom  blind  in  St.  John's  Gospel : — ''  Now  we 
know  that  God  doth  not  hear  sinners  ..."  (ix. 
31).  In  all  this  the  divine  operation  on  the  minds 
of  the  sacred  writers  consisted  in  intimating  to 
them  to  relate  these  expressions  of  other  people. 
God  inspired  the  quoting  of  these  expressions, 
which,  therefore,  must  have  been  truly  spoken  by 
the  persons  to  whom  they  are  attributed ;  but  He 


112  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

did  not  inspire  the  utterances  themselves,  4"^. 
Finally,  God  by  His  light  so  fortified  the  intellects 
of  the  Old  and  Xew  Testament  v^riters,  as  to 
prevent,  on  their  part,  the  possibility  of  error  in 
recording  what  He  thus  put  before  them  to  be 
written.  Inspiration,  therefore,  while  it  includes 
revelation,  and  negative  assistance,  does  not  consist 
in  either  one  or  the  other,  or  both ;  but  in  positive 
assistance.  \ 

Extent  of  Inspiration  : — Having  determined 
the  nature  of  inspiration  it  now  remains  to  fix  its 
limits.  1°.  "With  respect  to  the  truths  and  facts, 
inspiration  extends  to  every  truth,  either  doctrinal 
or  moral  in  the  Scripture ;  to  every  doctrinal 
fact  and  to  every  historical  fact,  so  far  as  it 
regards  its  substance.  This  is  a  necessary  con- 
clusion from  the  same  Dogmatic  Constitution  of 
the  Vatican  Council,  which  has  been  mentioned 
already: — '^And  these  books  of  the  Old  and 
'^  'New  Testament  are  to  be  received  as  Sacred 
''  and  Canonical  in  their  integrity  zvith  all  their 
^^  parts,  as  they  are  enumerated  in  the  decree  of 
"  the  Sacred  Council  (Trent),  and  are  contained  in 
"  the  old  Latin  edition  of  the  Vulgate.  And  the 
'*  Church  holds  them  Sacred  and  Canonical  .  ,  . 
"  because  having  been  tvritten  by  the  inspiration  oj 
'^  the  Holy  Ghost  (Spiritu  Sancto  inspirante  con- 
•"*  scriptae)  they  have  God  for  their  author,''^  (I^og- 
matic  Constitution  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  Ch.  II. 


INSPIRATION    OF   THE    BIBLE. 


113 


of  Eevelation,  Sess.  III).  Here  the  Yatican  Fathers 
chose  as  the  object  of  their  particular  legislation 
'^  the  decree  concerning  the  Canonical  Scriptures  " 
passed  in  Session  lY.  of  the  Council  of  Trent: — 
"But  if  any  one  receive  not  as  Sacred  and 
'^  Canonical  the  said  books  entire  with  all  their 
''parts,  as  they  have  been  used  to  be  read  in  the 
"  Catholic  Church,  and  as  they  are  contained  in  the 
"old  Latin  Yulgate  Edition  .  .  .  let  him  be 
"  anathema."  Therefore  the  Church  has  infallibly 
pronounced  every  part  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment {cum  omnibus  suis  partibus)  to  be  sacred  and 
canonical,  ''because  they  are  inspired^'^  that  is  every 
doctrine,  every  moral  precept,  every  doctrinal  fact, 
and  also  every  historical  fact,  as  far  as- its  substance 
is  concerned,  forms  a  part  of  the  Bible,  and  is, 
therefore,  inspired.  St.  Paul  tells  the  Eomans  :■ — 
"For  what  things  soever  were  written,  were 
written  for  our  learning  "  (Epistle  to  the  Eomans 
XV.  4).-  This  is  what  Cardinal  Newman  has 
expressed  in  an-  article  in  the  February  Number 
(1884)  of  The  Nineteenth  Century  Review: — "As 
"to  the  authority  of  Scripture,  we  hold  it  to  be,  in 
"  all  matters  of  faith  and  morals,  divinely  inspired 
"  throughout."  He  then  points  out  the  field  covered 
by  his  word  throughout'. — "But  while  the  Coun- 
"cils,  as  has  been  shown,  lay  down  so  emphatically 
"the  inspiration  of  Scripture  in  respect  to  *  faith 
"  and  morals,'  it  is  remarkable  that  they  do  not  say 

H 


114         INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

"  a  word  directly  as  to  its  inspiration  in  matters  of 
**  fact.  Yet  are  we,  therefore,  to  conclude  that  the 
^^  record  of  facts  in  Scripture  does  not  come  under 
**  the  guarantee  of  its  inspiration  ?  We  are  not  so  to 
*'  conclude,  and  for  this  plain  reason  : — The  sacred 
''  narrative,  carried  on  through  so  many  ages,  what  is 
"  it  but  the  very  matter  for  our  faith,  and  rule  of  our 
'^  obedience  ?  What  but  that  narrative  itself  is  the 
"  supernatural  teaching,  in  order  to  which  inspira- 
^^  tion  is  given  ?  What  is  the  whole  history,  traced 
''  out  in  Scripture  from  Genesis  to  Esdras,  and 
''  thence  on  to  the  end  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
''  but  a  manifestation  of  Divine  Providence,  on  the 
^'  one  hand  interpretative,  on  a  large  scale  and  with 
''  analogical  applications  of  universal  history,  and 
''  on  the  other  preparatory,  typical  and  predictive, 
*^  of  the  Evangelical  Dispensation  ?  Its  pages 
"  breathe  of  providence  and  grace,  of  our  Lord, 
''  and  of  His  work  and  teaching,  from  beginning  to 
"  end.  It  views  facts  in  those  relations  in  which 
''  neither  ancients,  such  as  the  Greek  and  Latin 
'^  classical  historians,  nor  moderns,  such  as  Niebuhr, 
^'  Grote,  Ewald,  or  Michelet,  can  view  them.  In 
^'  this  point  of  view  it  has  God  for  its  author,  even 
"  though  the  finger  of  God  traced  no  words  but  the 
"  Decalogue.  Such  is  the  claim  of  Bible  history  in 
"  its  substantial  fulness  to  be  accepted  de  JideSiS 
"true.  In  this  point  of  view,  Scripture  is  in- 
"  spired,  not  only  in  faith  and  morals,  but  in  all 


INSPIKATION   OF   THE    BIBLE.  115 

"parts  which  bear  on  faith,   including  matters  of 
"fact."/ 

There  are,  however,  in  the  historical  part  of  the 
Eible,  some  small  circumstances,  or  details,  which 
do  not  touch  the  substance  of  the  fact.  Hence  the 
Cardinal  adds : — "  And  here  I  am  led  to  inquire 
"  whether  obiter  dicta  are  conceivable  in  an  inspired 
"  document.  .  .  .  By  oUter  dicta  I  also  mean  such 
"  statements  as  we  find  in  the  Book  of  Judith,  that 
"  Nabuchodonosor  was  King  of  Ninive.  Now  it  is  in 
"  favour  of  there  being  such  unauthoritative  ohiter 
"  dicta^  .  .  .  not  doctrinal,  but  mere  unimportant 
"  statements  of  fact.  .  .  .  There  does  not  then  seem 
"  any  serious  difficulty  in  admitting  their  existence 
"  in  Scripture.  Let  it  be  observed,  its  miracles  are 
"  doctrinal  facts,  and  in  no  sense  of  the  phrase 
"  can  be  considered  ohiter  dictaJ^^  In  this  there 
is  nothing  to  offend  the  most  sensitive  theological 
acumen,  for  there  are  in  the  Sacred  Scripture 
what  the  Cardinal  calls  "'  oUter  dicta,  mere  unim- 
portant statements  of  fact,"  and  since  they  do  not 
belong  essentially  to  the  faithful  record  of  the 
fact  itself,  they  can  only  serve  to  make  the 
narrative  more  complete  and  more  vivid,  as  for 
example,  what  is  told  of  the  dog  of  Tobias 
"  showing  his  joy  by  his  fawning  and  wagging  his 
tail "  (Tobias  xi.  9).  Now  to  relate  an  historical 
fact  with  more  vividness  and  completeness  is  purely 
ornamental.     It  is  entirely  a  matter  of  taste  as  well 


116  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 


as  of  education,  and  the  keenest  theologian  can 
aardly  advocate  such  plenary  inspiration  as  would 
deprive  the  sacred  penmen  of  the  exercise  of  their 
own  taste  and  education  in  all  that  is  not  necessary 
lor  the  faithful  record  of  the  facts,  proposed  to  them 
"by  God  to  be  written.  But  since  the  Scripture 
narrative  cannot  be  false  in  any  particular,  even 
chese  ^'-obiter  dicta^  mere  unimportant  statements  of 
fact,"  are  safe-guarded  from  error  by  negative  assist- 
ance, which  is  all  that  can  be  required,  and  not  by 
positive  assistance,  or  inspiration  proper,  which 
would  be  superfluous  in  the  circumstances,  and  God 
never  performs  a  superfluous  act.  / 

Cardinal  Newman  sums  up  all  in  a  postcript 
to  his  article  : — ''  These  two  Councils  (Le.^  Trent 
''  and  the  Vatican),  decide  that  the  Scriptures  are 
^-  inspired  throughout,  but  not  inspired  by  an  imme- 
^'  diately  divine  act,  but  through  the  instrumentality 
'^  of  inspired  men;  that  they  are  inspired  in  all 
'^matters  of  faith  and  morals,  meaning  thereby, 
*^  not  only  theological  doctrine,  but  also  the  historical 
'^  and  prophetical  narratives,  which  they  contain, 
"from  Genesis  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles;  and 
"  lastly,  that  being  inspired  because  WTitten  by 
"inspired  men,  they  have  a  human  side,  which 
"  manifests  itself  in  language,  style,  tone  of  thought, 
"  character,  intellectual  peculiarities,  and  such  infir- 
"  milies,  not  sinful  as  belong  to  our  nature,  and 
"  which  in  important  matters  may  issue  in  what  in 


INSPIRATION   OF   THE    BIBLE.  117 

"  doctrinal  definitions  is  called  an  obiter  dictum, 
''  At  the  same  time,  the  gift  of  inspiration  being 
''  divine,  a  Catholic  must  never  forget  that  what  he 
^^is  handling  is  in  a  true  sense  the  Word  of  God, 
^' which,  as  I  said  in  my  Article  by  reason  of  the 
''  difficulty  of  always  drawing  the  line  between  what 
*'  is  human  and  what  is  divine,  cannot  be  put  on  the 
^'  level  with  other  books,  as  it  is  now  the  fashion 
''  to  do,  but  has  the  nature  of  a  Sacrament,  which 
^'  is  outward  and  inward,  and  a  channel  of  super- 
''  natural  grace."/ 

Verbal  Inspiration  :~2nd.  With  regard  to  the 
words  of  'the  Scripture,  and  its  style  of  composition, 
inspiration  extends  not  only  to  the  sentences  in  the 
context ;  but  to  a  particular  word  or  words  where 
such  are  necessary  to  exhibit  accurately  any  truth  or 
fact  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  reason 
is  that  by  negative  assistance,  which  is  an  essential 
element  in  inspiration,  the  Old  and  ]N'ew  Testament 
writers  are  secured  from  the  possibility  of  error  in 
recording  whatever  God  instructed  them  to  set 
forth,  and  they  are  consequently  infallible  in  the 
choice  of  the  word  or  words  that  truly  represent  the 
doctrines,  moral  precepts,  and  facts  to  be  entered  in 
the  Bible.  If  these  doctrines,  precepts,  and  facts 
can  be  as  accurately  announced  in  one  set  of  words, 
as  in  another,  then  God  leaves  the  choice  of  the 
words  to  the  writers  themselves.  Hence,  in  the  Scrip- 
tures generally,  the  phrases  and  their  combination 


118  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

bear  the  impress  of  the  intellectual  training  and  dis- 
position of  each  of  the  writers.  Thus,  for  example, 
though  our  Blessed  Lord  used  one  set  of  words  only 
in  teaching  the>  institution  of  the  Blessed  Eucharist, 
they  are  variously  givem  by  the  four  Evangelists. 
This  shows  that  the  writers  of  the  Old  and  'New 
Testament  were  not  mere  mechanical  transcribers, 
but  intelligent  men,  who  were  permitted  by  God  to 
exercise  their  own  taste  in  selecting  their  vocabulary 
and  style  in  all  that  did  not  appertain  essentially  to 
the  faithful  expression  of  the  truths,  which  God 
wished  them  to  publish  in  their  writings.  This  is 
precisely  what  the  author  of  the  II  Book  of  Macha- 
bees  did  when  he  says  : — '^  If  I  have  done  my 
"  narration  well,  and  as  it  becometh  the  history, 
^'  it  is  what  I  desired  ;  but  if  not  so  perfectly,  it 
''  must  be  pardoned  me ;  for  as  it  is  hurtful  to  drink 
''  always  wine,  or  always  water,  but  pleasant  to 
'^  use  sometimes  the  one,  and  sometimes  the  other ; 
^^  so  if  the  speech  be  always  nicely  framed,  it  will 
*'not  be  grateful  to  the  readers"  (xv.  39,  40). 
Here  it  is  well  to  add  that  no  translation  of  the 
Bible  is  inspired ;  but  it  has  been  conclusively 
shown  in  the  chapter  on  the  Beading  the  Scriptures 
in  the  Yemacular,  that  the  Catholic  Church  has 
solemnly  pronounced  the  Old  Latin  Vulgate  to  be 
authentic,  that  is,  to  give  the  originals  without 
substantial  error.  1 

Protestants,  but  not  all,  admit  the  inspiration  of 


INSPIRATION   OF   THE    BIBLE.  119 

the  Bible.  I^ow  what  are  their  proofs  for  this 
belief?  There  are  external  proofs  which  most 
Protestants  make  to  consist  in  the  fact  of  the 
writers  being  Apostles,  and  performing  miracles. 
The  fact  that  one  is  an  Apostle,  and  performs 
miracles,  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  what  he 
writes  is  inspired.  Luther,  according  to  his  own 
testimony  as  well  as  that  of  very  many  Protestants, 
was  divinely  sent,  and  performed  miracles.  Yet  no 
Protestant  will  say  that  Luther's  writings  are  divinely 
inspired.  The  messengers,  sent  by  God,  to  propose 
His  revelation,  wrought  miracles  in  proof  of  their 
divine  mission,  and  of  the  truth  of  what  they  taught. 
Miracles  and  prophecies  are  evidence  of  the  truth 
of  a  revelation ;  but  not  of  the  inspiration  of  any 
document.  / 

Some  Protestants,  however,  derive  the  external 
argument  for  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  from  the 
testimony  of  the  Christian  people.  It  is  a  fact,  they 
say,  just  as  the  definition  of  any  dogma  of  belief  by 
a  general  council  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  a  fact, 
or  as  the  supreme  sanction  of  a  body  of  laws  is  a 
fact,  and  as  such  is  attested  by  a  number  of  wit- 
nesses, large  enough  to  render  certain  the  truth  of 
its  existence.  Then,  there  are  not  a  few  Protestants 
who  deduce  an  external  argument  for  the  inspiration 
of  the  Scriptures  from  the  Bible  itself,  by  taking 
some  passages  from  the  New  Testament  to  prove 
the  inspiration  of  the  whole  Bible.   As  to  the  proof, 


120         INTRODUCTION    TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

drawn  from  the  testimony  of  the  Christian  people, 
there  is  an  essential  flaw  in  this  testimony,  and  it 
is  from  the  nature  of  the  fact  itself.  Facts,  resting 
on  the  testimony  of  men,  must  have  certain  con- 
ditions, which  may  be  reduced  to  this  that  those 
persons,  who  witnessed  them,  were  neither  deceived, 
nor  deceivers.  IN'ow,  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible 
is  not  a  fact  of  this  kind;;  it  is  purely  internal, 
unseen  by  all  except  by  God  HimseK.  It  is,  there- 
fore, a  fact  of  which  no  one,  not  even  the  writer, 
can  have  certain  testimony  without  anew  revelation 
that  he  was  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  light,  and  not 
by  the  Spirit  of  darkness.  ( 

Coming  now  to  the  proof  of  Biblical  inspiration 
from  the  Scripture  itself,  what  is  wanted  from 
Protestants  is  a  satisfactory  proof  that  these  texts, 
brought  forward,  are  themselves  inspired;  that  taken 
together  they  refer  to  each  and  all  the  books  of  the 
Bible,  and  that  they  clearly  assert  the  inspiration  of 
•the  writings  m  question.  Now,  the  first  point 
Protestants  can  scarcely  know  unless  by  a  new 
revelation ;  in  the  second  they  must  ever  fail,  as 
the  passages,  in  their  greatest  amplitude,  refer  to 
very  few  books ;  and  in  the  third  they  are  equally 
at  fault,  for  most  of  these  texts  are  not  at  all  clear 
as  to  what  is  meant  by  inspiration,  and  some  do  not 
touch  it  even  remotely. 

And  if  the  Protestant  cannot  ground  the  inspira- 
tion on  external  evidence,  he  will  not  fare  better 


IXSPIRATION    OF   THE    BIBLE.  121 

with  his  internal  proofs,  as  for  instance  the  harmony 
of  parts,  sanctity  of  doctrines,  and  the  spiritual 
feelings  excited  by  the  reading  of  the  Sacred 
Yolume.  One  reflection  will  suffice  to  give  as  a 
reason  for  refusing  to  admit  the  inspiration  on  this 
internal  evidence,  and  it  is  that  all  these  arguments, 
adduced  from  this  source,  may  be  applied  to  many 
other  writings  besides  the  Bible.  / 


CHAPTEE  YIII. 

CANON  OF  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES. 

\  Canon — Sacred  Canon — Fixed  infallibly  for  Catholics — Found 
in  Tradition  alone — How  Protestants  prove  the  Sacred  Canon — The 
Apocrypha — Use  of  this  term  perverted  by  Protestants — Catholic 
teaching  as  to  the  Protocanonical  and  Deuterocanonical  Scriptures 
— List  of  the  Deutero-canonical  Scriptures— Jews  and  the  Deutero- 
canonical books  of  the  Old  Testament — Protestants  and  the 
Deuterocanonical  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments— Genuine- 
ness of  the  New  Testament  Deuterocanonical  books  vindicated — 
Epistle  of  St.  James— II.  Epistle  of  St.  Peter— II.  and  III.  Epistles 
of  St.  John— Epistle  of  St.  Jude— The  Apocalypse— Gospel  of  St. 
Matthew,  i.  and  ii.  chapters — Gospel  of  St.  Mark  xvi.  8-20 — Gospel 
of  St.  Luke  xxii.  43,  44 — Gospel  of  St.  John  viiL  1-11  and  xxi. — 
I.  Epistle  of  St.  John  v.  7.  \ 

Canon  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  : — Canon, 
Greek  (KavZv)  a  piece  of  rod  or  stick,  with  which 
lines  were  drawn,  and  quantities  measured.  The 
name  of  this  instrument  came  to  denote  the  standard 
by  which  the  qualities  of  things  were  fixed,  and  in 
the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  it  was  employed 
to  distinguish  the  collection  of  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  accepted  in  the  Church  as  the  Word 
of  God,  or  inspired,  i 

Catholics  and  the  Sacred  Canon  : — The  Fathers 
of  the  Council  of  Trent  declared  the  books  of  the 
Bible,  as  they  are  contained  in  the  old  Latin  Vulgate 


CANON   OF   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES.  123 

edition  to  form  this  list.      They  are  : — "  Of  the  Old 
"  Testament,  the  five  books  of  Moses;  that  is  Genesis, 
'^  Exodus,     Leviticus,     Numbers,     Deuteronomy ; 
^'  Josue,  Judges,  Euth,  the  four  books  of  Kings,  two 
''  of  Paralipomenon,  the  first  book  of  Esdras,  and  the 
^^  second,  which  is  entitled  Nehemias;  Tobias,  Judith, 
"  Esther,  Job,  the  Davidical  psaltery,  consisting  of 
"  a  hundred  and  fifty  psalms ;  the  Proverbs,  Ecclesi- 
^^astes,     the     Canticle     of     Canticles,     Wisdom, 
^^  Ecclesiasticus,    Isaias^    Jeremias,    with   Baruch; 
^'Ezechiel,  Daniel;  the  twelve  minor  prophets,  to 
'^wit,   Osee,   Joel,  Amos,  Abdias,  Jonas,  Micheas, 
"  Nahum,  Habacuc,  Sophonias,  Aggeus,  Zacharias, 
^'  Malachias  ;  two  books  of  the  Machabees,  the  first 
''  and  the  second.     Of  the  New  Testament :  the  four 
"  Gospels,  according  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
''  John  ;  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  written  by  Luke, 
'Hhe  Evangelist;    fourteen  Epistles  of   Paul  the 
'^  Apostle,  one  to  the  Eomans,  two  to  the  Corinthians, 
^'  one  to  the  Galatians,  to>  the  Ephesians,  to  the 
"  Philippians,  to  the    Colossian^,  two  to  the  Thessa- 
^'  lonians,  two  to  Timothy,  one  to  Titus,  to  Philemon, 
^'  to  the  Hebrews,  two  of  Peter  the  Apostle,  three 
''  of  John  the  Apostle,  one  of  the  Apostle  James, 
''  one  of  Jude  the  Apostle,  and  the  Apocalypse  of 
^^  John  the  Apostle."    (Decree  concerning  the  Can- 
onical Scriptures.   Session  iv.)/ 

That  these  particular  Scriptures,  and  these  only, 
are  canonical,  is  a  fact,  like  that  of  the  inspiration. 


124  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

which  must  be  contained  in  God's  written  or  un- 
written word,  seeing  that  the  Church,  in  general 
council,  has  thus  solemnly  adopted  and  proposed  it. 
Is^ow  the  well-known  Scripture  passage,  produced  as 
certifying  to  this  fact,  is  St.  Paul's  statement : — 
*^A11  Scripture,  inspired  of  God,  is  profitable  to 
teach,  to  reprove,  to  correct,  to  instruct  in  justice  " 
(2  Timothy  iii.  16).  This,  however,  refers  to  the 
Old  Testament  exclusively,  and  even  here  the 
Apostle  does  not  specify  the  parts,  of  his  inspired 
series.  / 

The  fact,  therefore,  of  the  Sacred  Canon  is 
found  in  God's  unwritten  word  only,  and  to  the 
existence  of  this  uniform  and  universal  tradition  in 
the  Church  of  Christ,  Pope  Innocent  I.  bears 
splendid  testimony.  In  a  letter  to  Exuperius, 
Eishop  of  Toulouse  in  405,  the  Supreme  Pontiff 
gives  the  inspired  books  in  number  and  name, 
exactly  as  defined  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  with 
the  important  assurance  that  such  was  "  consecrated 
by  the  reading  and  fostering  care  of  ages."  Again 
the  Councils  of  Hippo  (393),  of  Carthage  (397),  and 
of  Eome  (493),  publish  a  similar  catalogue  among 
their  decrees.  The  voice  of  this  tradition  is  also 
heard  with  no  uncertain  sound  so  late  as  1440  in 
the  message  of  Pope  Eugene  YI.  to  the  Armenians. 
And  so  this  fact  came  doAvn  from  the  Apostles  in 
the  channel  of  tradition  until  it  was  called  in  ques- 
tion by  the  heretics  of  the  sixteenth  century  and 


CANOX    OF   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURKS.  12o 

finally  decided  by  the  Bishops  of  the  whole  Church, 
assembled  ia  Council  at  Trent  (1545-1563).  / 

Protestants  and  the  Sacred  Canon  : — Such  then 
is  the  proof,  such  the  infallible  authority  of  Catholics 
for  the  collection  of  those  books,  which  constitute 
the  canonical  Scriptures.  Protestants  generally  first 
prove  the  canon icity  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
make  it  a  necessary  step  towards  proving  the  canon 
of  the  Old  Testament.  With  regard  to  the  'New 
Testament  many  Protestants  conclude  from  the  fact 
of  its  books  having  been  written  by  an  apostle,  or 
the  disciple  of  an  apostle,  that  it  is,  therefore, 
canonical.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  because  an 
Apostle  has  written  a-  document,  it  is,  therefore, 
canonical,  for  Protestants  do  not  object  to  the 
opinion  that  much  of  what  some  of  the  Apostles 
wrote,  and  notably  St.  Paul,  has  been  lost.  Then, 
a  writing  need  not  have  emanated  from  the  pen  of 
an  Apostle  in  order  to  be  canonical,  for  some  very 
prominent  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  written 
by  disciples  of  Apostles.  Nor  is  the  authorship  by 
the  disciple  of  an  Apostle  to  be  made  the  criterion, 
for  St.  Barnabas,  and  St.  Clement  of  Eome  were 
disciples  of  Apostles,  and  yet  their  writings,  though 
genuine,  are  not  on  the  Canon.  / 

Most  Protestants  also  appear  to  take  it  for  granted 
that  the  same  act,  which  inspires  a  writing,  inserts 
it  on  the  roll  of  holy  Scripture,  and  thus  they  con- 
found inspiration  with  canonicity.      But  there  is 


126  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

notliing  absurd  in  the  notion  of  a  book  being 
inspired,  while  it  has  no  place  on  the  sacred  list. 
This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  several  inspired 
books  were  not  admitted  to  the  Jewish  Canon  till  the 
time  of  Esdras,  though  they  were  published  long 
before.  It  is  confirmed  by  another  fact,  namely, 
that  some  of  the  books,  at  present  enumerated  in  the 
Latin  Yulgate,  and  sealed  by  the  Council  of  Trent, 
were  not  acknowledged  as  inspired  by  the  Fathers 
unanimously  until  the  seventh  century.  / 

The  Protestant  position  regarding  the  Sacred 
Canon  is  still  further  emphasized  in  the  following 
extract  from  a  modern  writer  : — "  The  Epistle  to 
^'  the  Hebrews,  though  received  in  the  East,  was 
*^  not  received  in  the  Latin  Church  till  St. 
^'  Jerome's  time.  St.  Irenaeus  either  does  not  affirm, 
*'  or  denies  that  it  is  St.  PauPs.  Tertullian  ascribes 
*^  it  to  St.  Barnabas.  Caius  excludes  it  from  bis  list. 
"  St.  Hippolytus  does  not  receive  it.  St.  Cyprian 
"is  silent  about  it."  And  again: — "The  I^ew 
"  Testament  consists  of  twenty-seven  books  in  all  of 
"  varying  importance.  Of  these,  fourteen  are  not 
"  mentioned  at  all  from  80  to  100  years  after  St. 
"  John's  death,  in  which  number  are  the  Acts,  the 
"  II.  Corinthians,  the  Galatians,  the  Colossians,  the 
"two  to  Timothy,  and  the  Epistle  of  St.  James." 
{Tracts  for  the  Tmes,  IKTumbers  75,  78  and  80).  \ 

The  Canon,  therefore,  as  it  is  in  the  Protestant 
Church,  was  not  framed  before  the  fourth  or  fifth 


CANON   OF   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES.  127 

century.  It  remains  that  the  only  way  the  Canon 
could  have  been  fixed  at  that  period  was  to  collect 
the  teaching  of  the  various  Churches,  and  then  pro- 
nounce by  a  definitive  judgment  that  certain  books 
were  canonical.  But,  it  is  a  leading  doctrine  of 
Protestantism  that  no  Church  has  power  to  decide 
infallibly  in  matters  of  the  kind.  / 

Lastly  there  are  Protestants,  who  say,  that  in 
fixing  the  Sacred  Canon  they  are  following  with  the 
same  certainty,  the  same  plan  as  that  adopted  by  the 
Pathers  of  the  early  Church  in  determining  the 
genuine,  and  consequently  the  Canonical  books  of 
the  Scripture  by  the  rules  of  sound  criticism.  Le 
Clerc  is  put  forward  as  one  of  their  most  orthodox 
exponents  of  this  doctrine  : — "  The  primitive 
'^  Christians,  "he  writes,  "  regarded  the  Scriptures  as 
"  divine,  because  they  saw  that  these  books  con- 
'^tained  nothing  unworthy  of  inspired  writers, 
^'nothing  contrary  to  the  Old  Testament,  to  right 
^^  reason,  nothing  which  characterises  authors 
''  more  recent  than  Apostles."  Thus  the  examina- 
tion of  the  doctrine  is  made  the  standard  by  which 
the  claims  of  certain  books  to  a  place  on  the 
Canon  are  to  be  tested.  But  what  Protestant  is 
able  by  his  rule  of  faith  to  judge  the  doctrines  of  the 
Bible,  and  apply  this  test  ?/ 

The  Apocrypha  :— Even  if  it  were  true  that  the 
examination  of  the  doctrines  determined  the 
genuineness,  it  does  not  follow,  by  any  means,  that 


128  INTRODrCTTON   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

this  rule  establislies  the  canonicity  of  a  book  of 
Scripture.  Genuineness  and  canonicity  are  not 
inseparable,  for  a  document  may  be  genuine  with- 
out being  canonical.  Thus  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Barnabas,  and  of  St.  Clement  of  Eome,  the  Shepherd 
of  Hermas,  the  third  and  4th  of  Esdras,  3rd  and  4th 
of  Machabees,  and  the  151st  Psalm,  were  all  very 
sacred,  and  truly  genuine;  but  they  never  were 
canonical.  The  fact  that  these  writings  were  not 
among  the  books  of  the  Sacred  Canon,  was  so 
hidden  (aTroVput^os)  from  some  of  the  early  Christian 
writers  that  they  unwittingly,  but  erroneously 
referred  to- them  as  being  on  the  roll  of  inspired 
Scriptures.  Hence  the  Apocrypha ;  but  Protestauts 
have  perverted  the  use  of  this  term  by  misapplying 
it  to  the  Deuterocanoiiical  parts  of  the  Bible,  namely 
those  Sacred  Scriptures,  whose  place  on  the  Canon 
was  not  universally  admitted  in  the  Church  until 
the  seventh  century.  \ 

Catholics  and  the  Protoganonical  and  Deutoro- 
CANONiCAL  Scriptures  : — For  the  first  five  centuries 
and  more  after  Christianity  began,  the  recognised 
Canon  of  inspired  Scriptures  did  not  find  its  way  into 
every  corner  of  the  Church's  wide  domain.  It 
happened,  therefore,  that  the  leaders  of  the  Christian 
movement  were  not  all  correctly  informed  as  to  the 
collection,  which  the  whole  Church  acknowledged 
to  be  God's  written  word.  This,  and  the  fear  of 
confounding  any  of  the  Canonical  Scriptures  with 


CANON    OF   THE    SACRED    SCEIPTXIRES.  129 

the  Apocryplia,  then  in  circulation,  had  the  effect 
of  causing  not  a  few  of  the  highest  authority  among 
the  ancient  Fathers,  to  suspect  the  divine  character 
of  several  Old  and  N'ew  Testament  books  which 
Eusebius  (Eccl.  Hist.)  consequently  named 
(^avTLXeyofxevoi),  The  Scripturcs  thus  challenged  are 
Deuterocanonicalj  because  the  fact  of  their  being 
actually  on  the  Canon  was  not  generally  known 
until  the  seventh  century.  These  books  and  parts 
of  books  were  ranked  second  (Aevrepos),  while  the  first 
(iTpoTo^^  place  has  been  assigned  to  those  Scriptures 
(Protocanonical)  whose  inspiration  was  never 
doubted  (o/xoXoyor/^o/ot  according  to  Eusebius)  by  any 
one  in  the  Church.  Eoth  enjoy  the  same  authority, 
for  both  are  declared  to  be  canonical  by  the 
infallible  decree  of  the  Church.  / 

In  the  New  Testament  the  D enter o canonical 
Scriptures  are  the  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the 
Hebrews,  the  Epistle  of  St.  James,  Epistle  of  St. 
Jude,  II.  Epistle  of  St.  Peter,  II.  and  III.  Epistles 
of  St.  John,  together  with  his  j^pocalypse  ;  the  last 
twelve  verses  of  St.  Mark's  Gospel,  the  passage 
regarding  our  Lord's  bloody  sweat  (Luke  xxii.)  and 
the  history  of  the  woman,  taken  in  adultery  (John 
viii.).  In  the  Old  Testament  the  Deuterocanonical 
Scriptures  are  Tobias,  Judith,  Wisdom,  Ecclesias- 
ticus,  Baruch,  the  two  books  of  Machabees,  the  part 
of  the  book  of  Daniel  containing  the  history  of 
Susanna  (xiii.),  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon  (xiv.),  the 


130  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

Canticle  of  the  three  children  in  the  fiery  furnace 
(iii.),  and  the  last  seven  chapters  of  Esther.  / 

Jews  and  the  Deuterocanonical  Books  of  the 
Old  Testament  : — These  Old  Testament  writings 
are  not  in  the  canon,  drawn  up  by  Esdras  for  his 
Jewish  countrymen,  at  the  close  of  their  Babylonish 
captivity,  512  b.c.  He  could  not  have  included 
Baruch,  Tobias,  Judith,  "Wisdom,  or  the  Deutero- 
canonical  parts  of  Daniel  and  Esther,  because  he 
did  not  know  even  of  their  existence,  and  the  two 
books  of  Machabees  were  not  written  until  long 
after  the  time  of  Esdras.  However,  all  those  that 
Esdras  could  not  have  noticed  found  their  way  into 
the  Septuagint^  and  hence  their  inspiration  was 
accepted  by  those  Jews,  who  adopted  the  Septuagint 
collection  of  the  Scriptures.  These  were  Hellenist 
Jews  J  who  had  settled  from  time  to  time  among  the 
Greek  colonies.  But  the  Hebreio  Jews^  who  never 
abandoned  the  language  and  home  of  their  fathers, 
declined  to  count  the  Deuterocanonical  parts  of  the 
Old  Testament  among  their  sacred  Scriptures,  on 
the  ground,  as  Josephus  remarks,  that  "  there  had 
been  no  succession  of  Prophets  from  the  time  of 
Esdras."  In  controversy,  therefore,  with  these 
Hebrew  Jews  it  was  perfectly  useless  for  the 
champions  of  the  Christian  faith  to  quote  from  the 
Deuterocanonical  Old  Testament  books.  Thus  it 
happened  that  these  were  not  mentioned  in  the 
enumeration   of   the    Catholic  Canon  as  early  as 


CAXOX  OF  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES.        131 

A.D.  160  by  Miletus,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  and  other 
ancient  Tatliers  of  the  time,  not  as  a  profession  of 
their  own  belief ;  but  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
meeting  the  Hebrew  Jews  from  their  own  standpoint.  / 

Peotestants  and  tiie  Deuterocanonical  Eooks 
OF  THE  Old  and  ^ew  Testament  : — Luther  in  his 
German  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  says  the 
Deuterocanonical  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  not  the  Word  of  God,  but  profitable  for  reading. 
He  also  puts  in  the  same  category  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  as  well  as  the  Apocalypse  from  the 
!N'ew  Testament,  where  the  Epistle  of  St.  James 
elicited  his  biting  jest  of  '^  a  downright  strawy 
Epistle,"  because  it  directly  contradicted  his  heresy 
of  justification  by  faith  alone.  Anglican  Protes- 
tants use  the  Deuterocanonical  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament  ^'for  edification,  but  not  for  the  establish- 
ment of  doctrine,"  on  the  plea  that  they  are  not  of 
divine  origin,  wMe  with  strange  inconsistency  they 
receive  the  Deuterocanonical  books  of  the  ;N"ew 
Testament  into  their  collection  of  inspired  Scriptures ! 
Most  of  all  the  Protestant  Churches,  hov/ever,  regard 
as  doubtful  the  authorship  of  the  iNew  Testament 
Deuterocanonical  books,  and  therefore  exclude 
them  from  the  collection  of  inspired  Scriptures.  But 
this  is  not  a  conclusive  argument,  for  TertuUian  and 
St.  Cyprian  believed  in  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  though  they  were  of  opinion 
that  St.  Paul,  himself,  did  not  write  it.     TertuUian, 


132  IXTEODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

St.  Cyprian,  St.  Clement  of  Eome,  St.  Irenseus^ 
Origen,  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  St.  Jerome, 
perceiving  in  this  some  difference  of  style  from  St. 
PanPs  other  Epistles,  concluded  that  he  was  not  tha 
immediate  writer  of  it,  but  only  supplied  the  matter 
in  Hebrew,  which  either  St.  Luke  or  St.  Barnabas 
clothed  in  its  present  Greek  dress.  This  will 
explain  why  this  Pauline  Epistle  is  not  mentioned 
in  the  ancient  canon  of  Muratori,  nor  in  the  works 
of  some  of  the  early  Fathers.  Finally,  unlike  St. 
Paul's  other  Epistles  this  one  to  the  Hebrews  does 
not  begin  with  : — ''  Paul  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ," 
or  words  to  that  effect,  because  the  very  name  of 
St.  Paul  was  obnoxious  to  the  Jews,  and  the 
mention  of  it  would  defeat  the  object  of  the 
Apostle.  / 

Epistle  of  St.  James: — This  important  deutero- 
canonical  book  of  the  ISTew  Testament  has  been 
stigmatized  by  Luther  as: — *^The  work  of  some 
nnknown  James,  who  misunderstood  the  doctrines  of 
the  Apostle  Paul."  This  the  arch-reformer  did  in 
order  to  damage,  in  the  opinion  of  his  followers,  the 
character  of  an  Epistle  which  he  disliked  most.  But 
the  best  witnesses  of  the  belief  of  the  early  Church, 
as  represented  in  the  "West  by  St.  Clement  of  Eomo 
(1  Corinthians  xxxviii.),  St.  Ireneeus  (Against 
Heresies,  Bk.  iv),  St.  Jerome  (Illustrious  Men, 
chap.  23);  and  in  the  east  by  St.  Clement,  of 
Alexandria,  Origen,  and  St.  Athanasius,  as  quoted 


CAXOX   OF   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTITRES.  133 

by  Eusebius  (Ecclesiastical  History,  ii.,  iii.),  all 
testify  to  the  genuineness  of  this  Epistle.  Eusebius 
himself,  no  doubt,  speaks  of  its  canonicity,  but  not 
of  its  genuineness,  "with  reserve,  and  this  cautious 
manner  of  reference,  wliicli  is  to  be  found  also  in  a 
few  other  early  Christian  writers,  while  it  has  no 
bearing  on  the  genuineness  of  this  Epistle,  may 
account  for  its  absence  from  the  canon  of  Muratori./ 
11.  Epistle  of  St.  Petee  : — The  next  of  the 
deutero-canonical  books  of  the  IsTew  Testament  is 
St.  Peter's  2nd  Epistle,  and  its  authorship  has  been 
impugned  because,  l"",  it  is  rarely  or  not  at  all  quoted 
by  any  Apostolic  writer;  S"",  it  is  not  among  the 
IN'ew  Testament  books,  translated  in  the  famous  old 
Syriac  version,  Peschito;  S"",  there  is  said  to  be  a  re- 
markable difference  of  style  between  it  and  St. 
Peter's  1st  Epistle  ;  and  4'',  St.  Jerome,  Origen,  and 
Eusebius,  the  historian,  are  not  in  favour  of  its 
acceptance.  But  the  alleged  silence  of  every 
Apostolic  writer,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Peschito,  in 
all  its  copies,  is  not  a  fact,  and  even  if  it  were,  it 
w^ould  amoimt  to  a  negative  argument  only.  Then 
we  must  not  expect  to  find  St.  Peter's  usual  style 
in  this  Epistle,  seeing  that,  as  St.  Jerome  and  St, 
Clement  of  Alexandria  think,  its  Greek  was  not  St. 
Peter's  but  that  of  St.  Mark  or  Sylvanus,  who  acted 
as  his  amanuensis.  Lastly,  the  disfavour  with 
which  this  Epistle  was  regarded  by  Origen,  Eusebius, 
and  St.  Jerome,  has  reference  to  its  authority  as  a 


134  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

divine  or  inspired  Scripture,  but  not  to  its  genuine- 
ness. / 

TI.  and  III.  Epistles  of  St.  Jolin.  The  genuineness 
of  these  Epistles  is  impeached  on  the  grounds — l"", 
that  they  are  not  in  the  Peschito,  and  some  other- 
ancient  versions ;  2"^,  the  author  signs  himself  the 
ancient^  who  is  alleged  not  to  have  been  St.  John,  the 
Apostle ;  and  S'',  Origen,  Eusebius,  and  St.  Jerome 
are  very  guarded  in  their  observations  regarding 
the  genuineness  of  these  [N'ew  Testament  books. 
But  this  dubious  attitude  of  these  eminent  autho- 
rities was,  doubtless,  due  to  the  remarkable  brevity 
of  these  Epistles,  which  are  not  found  in  some  of 
the  later  copies  of  the  Peschito,  but  this  does 
not  prove  that  they  are  wanting  in  the  earlier- 
copies  of  this  celebrated  Syriac  version,  especially 
as  they  are  given  in  such  an  old  version  as  the- 
Veins  Itala^  and  in  so  early  a  canon  as  that  of 
Muratori  (a.d.  175).  And  as  to  the  argument  from 
the  signature  of  ''  the  ancient^''''  so  far  from  weak- 
ening, it  strengthens  immensely  the  genuineness  of 
these  Epistles  for  St.  John,  the  Evangelist,  lived  to  a 
very  old  age — long  after  the  other  Apostles  had  gone 
to  their  reward — and  he  was  consequently  the  ancient 
or  senior  amongst  those  immediately  succeeding  the 
time  of  the  Apostles.  | 

Epistle  of  St.  Jude  : — Anti-Catholic  authorities 
also  pronounce  this  deutero-canonical  book  of  the 
New  Testament  spurious,  because  it  is  not  quoted  by 


CANON   OF   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES.  135 

any  of  tlie  prominent  writers  of  the  Eastern  or 
"Western  Church  nntil  the  fourth  century.  Subse- 
quently, when  St.  Clement,  of  Alexandria,  St.  Jerome, 
and  Origen,  noticed  it,  they  did  so  with  manifest 
misgivings.  Again  the  writer  seems  to  convey  that 
he  lived  after  all  the  Apostles  had  passed  away,  for 
he  says  : — "  But  you,  my  dearly  beloved,  be  mindful 
of  the  words  which  have  been  spoken  before  by  the 
Apostles  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ "  (Jude  i.  17). 
And  that  the  ^\Titer  was  not  the  Apostle  St.  Jude, 
seems  to  be  further  confirmed  by  his  doing  what  an 
Apostle  neither  would,  nor  could  be  accused  of, 
namely,  quoting  not  only  from  the  Book  of  Enoch, 
but  also  from  another  apocryphal  Scripture,  ''  the 
Assumption  of  Moses  "  where  he  found  the  story  of 
the  Archangel  Michael's  combat  with  the  devil  for  the 
possession  of  the  body  of  Moses.  But  1°,  the  earliest 
writers  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Church  make 
no  mention  of  St.  Jude's  Epistle,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  it  consisted  of  one  chapter  only,  and 
even  in  that  there  was  nothing  to  call  for  their 
special  attention.  2°.  The  hesitating  tone  which 
later  Fathers  adopted  towards  this  Epistle  arose 
from  their  doubts  respecting  its  canonicity  and  not 
its  genuineness.  S*".  The  expression,  "Apostles  of 
our  Lord,"  is  intended  by  St.  Jude  to  apply  to 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  and  other  Apostles,  who  had 
just  won  their  crown  of  martyrdom  in  circumstances 
of  great  triumph  for  the  infant  Church,    whence 


136  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

St.  Jude  takes  the  opportimity  of  exhorting  the 
faithful  "to  be  mindful  of  their  words."  Thus  it 
happened  that  the  place  held  by  several  of  the 
deutero-eanonical  Scriptures  on  the  canon  escaped 
the  notice  of  a  few  early  Christian  writers,  while 
suspicion  hardly  ever  touched  the  question  of  their 
genuineness,  f 

The  Apocalypse  : — The  arguments  against  the 
genuineness  of  this,  the  last  book  of  the  'New 
Testament  Scriptures,  are,  1°,  that  in  Greek  copies  it 
is  ascribed  to  St.  John,  the  theologian,  and  not  to 
St.  John,  the  Apostle  ;  2""  that  it  is  not  mentioned  by 
any  writer  of  the  Apostolic  age ;  and  o"",  that  soon 
after  the  first  few  centuries  of  the  Church,  St. 
Dionysius,  of  Alexandria,  speaks  of  it  as  not  the 
work  of  St.  John,  while  St.  Jerome,  in  his  Epistle 
to  Dardanus,  says  the  Greek  Fathers  did  not 
believe  it  to  be  a  genuine  production,  and  conse- 
quently never  gave  it  a  place  in  any  of  their  canons. 
For  these  reasons,  and  because  it  is  totally  different 
in  phraseology  from  St.  John's  other  acknowledged 
writings,  the  belief  in  his  authorship  of  it  is  rejected 
by  many  outside  the  Catholic  Church.  In  answer 
to  these  objections  it  is  to  be  observed,  I'',  that  St. 
John  earned  the  name  of  the  theologian  on  account 
of  the  marked  doctrinal  character  of  his  Gospel. 
2**.  The  statement  of  Dionysius,  of  Alexandria,  even 
if  well  founded,  does  not  represent  the  authority  of 
all  the  early  Christian  writers.     There  is  no  doubt, 


CANON    OF   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES.  137 

whatever,  that  the  Greek  Fathers  declined,  as 
St.  Jerome  wrote  to  Dardanus,  to  recognise  the 
genuineness  and  canonicity  of  the  Apocalypse.  But 
this  arose  from  a  holy  fear  that  this  book  should 
favour  in  any  way  the  foul  doctrine  to  which  its 
4th  verse,  chapter  xx.,  was  prostituted  by  the 
Millenarian  or  Chiliast  heretics,  namely,  that  the 
martyrs  would  reign  a  thousand  years  before  the  end 
of  the  world  with  Christ  in  the  enjoyment  of  carnal 
delights.  3^.  As  regards  the  apparent  difference  of 
style  it  must  be  noticed  that  prophecy,  more  than 
any  other  subject,  has  a  vocabulary  of  its  own,  and 
therefore,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  hi^  revelation 
would  be  told  by  St.  John  in  phraseology  somewhat 
different  from  that  adopted  by  him  elsewhere.  ^ 

I.  A^D  II.  Chapters  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel  : — 
The  interpolation  of  this  particular  part  of  the  first 
Gospel  is  maintained  by  not  a  few  outside  the 
Catholic  Church,  for  the  reason  that  these  chapters 
do  not  appear  in  the  oldest  existing  copy  of  this 
Scripture,  and  the  matter  they  treat  of  is  not 
touched  upon  by  St.  Mark,  though  his  Gospel  is, 
to  a  great  extent,  a  compendium  of  St.  Matthew's. 
But  l"",  to  produce  this,  the  most  ancient  copy  of 
St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  is  to  appeal  to  the  authority 
of  heretics,  known  as  the  Ebionites,  Avho  denied  the 
Incarnation,  and  consequently  eliminated  from  their 
copy  of  St.  Matthew  these  two  chapters,  where 
this  mystery  is  so  clearly  and  so  prominently  put 


138  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

forward.  2°.  St.  Mark's  object  appears  to  have 
been  to  give  an  epitome  of  what  St.  Matthew  had 
already  written,  and  he  passed  over  the  subject  of 
these  two  chapters  just  as  he  did  the  Sermon  upon 
the  Mount.  / 

St.  Maek's  Gospel,  xvi.  8-20  : — These  thirteen 
verses  are  also  brought  forward  as  the  work  of  a 
strange  hand,  because  1°,  they  do  not  appear,  it  is 
said,  in  either  the  Vatican  or  Sinaitic  Codices,  and 
St.  Jerome,  Eusebius,  and  St.  Gregory  of  ^yssa, 
declare  they  could  not  find  this  part  of  St.  Mark's 
Gospel  in  any  of  the  ^ew  Testament  manuscript 
copies,  belonging  to  the  first  three  centuries.  Then 
it  is  wanting  in  the  Armenian  and  Arabic  versions 
as  well  as  in  the  Vetus  Italica  (Old  Latin)  version, 
or  rather  in  a  rare  copy  of  it,  discovered  in  the 
monastery  of  Bobbio ;  2"",  the  style  of  the  alleged 
interpolation  is  said  to  differ  widely  from  the  rest 
of  St.  Mark's  Gospel ;  and  3°,  if  St.  Mark  was  the 
author  of  this  passage,  he  would  not,  as  he  does  in 
the  9th  verse,  state  the  reverse  of  what  St.  Matthew 
records  in  the  1st  verse,  chapter  xxviii.  of  his  Gospel. 
But  I'',  in  the  matter  of  JSTew  Testament  copies  of  the 
originals.  Mill,  Bcngcl,  "Wettstein,  are,  perhaps, 
unsurpassed  in  critical  authority,  and  they  have 
retained  these  disputed  verses  of  St.  Mark  in  their 
respective  editions  of  the  Greek  Testament.  Then 
as  to  ancient  versions,  the  weight  of  evidence  is  in 
favour  of  St.  Mark  being  the  author  of  this  passage, 


CAXON  OF  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES.        139^ 

since  it  is  found  in  the  Peshito,  theYulgatej  and  in  all 
the  copies  of  the  Old  Latin  version,  except  this  one 
discovered  in  the  Monastery  of  Bobbio  ;  in  short,  it 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  bnlk  of  ancient  versions,  and  in 
all  the  ancient  liturgies.  2"",  the  supposed  peculiarity 
of  diction  is  wholly  imaginary,  as  is  also  the  contra- 
diction between  the  9th  verse,  chapter  xvi.  of  St. 
Mark's  Gospel : — '^But  he  rising  early  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  appeared  first  to  Mary  Magdalen,  out 
of  whom  he  had  cast  seven  devils,"  and  the  1st 
verse,  chapter  xxviii.   of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel: — 
*' Andin  the  end  of  the  Sabbath,  when  it  began  to 
dawn  towards  the  first  day  of  the  week,  came  Mary 
Magdalen,  and  the  other  Mary  to  see  the  sepulchre." 
Here  St.  Matthew  distinctly  mentions  the  time  of 
this  tender  episode  to    be    '4n   the    end    of    the 
Sabbath,"  and  between  this  and  St.  Mark's  ^^  first 
day  of  the  week,  there  is  a  perfect  agreement,  for- 
the  Jewish  Sabbath,  which  began  Friday  evening, 
ended  on  Sunday  morning,   ''  the  first  day  of  the 
week."     Then  when  St.  Mark  says  ^^the  sun  being 
now  risen,"  he  refers  to  the  time  when  the  two 
Marys  and  Salome  had  actually  reached  the  sepul- 
chre, whereas  St.  Matthew's  words,  ''when  it  began 
to  dawn,"  fix  the  time  when  these  pious  women  left 
home  to  pay  their  loving  tribute  of  affection  at  the 
tomb  of  their  Saviour.  \ 

St.  Luke's  Gospel,    xxii.   43,   44 : — There  are 
Protestant  critics  who  contend  that  the  narrative 


140  IXTKODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

contained  in  this  part  of  St.  Luke's  Gospel  was 
a  subsequent  addition  to  the  original.  They  pretend 
the  statement  which  represents  Jesus  to  be  so  over- 
whelmed with  anguish  as  to  need  a  comforter,  is 
incompatible  with  His  divinity,  and  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  His  human  nature  to  su^Dport  the 
terrible  strain,  implied  in  the  sweat  of  blood. 
2°.  The  incident,  they  say,  is  not  recorded  in  most 
•copies  of  the  ISTew  Testament  originals,  notably  the 
Vatican  and  Alexandrian  manuscripts.  But  this 
vivid  description  of  our  Blessed  Lord's  agony  in 
the  garden,  has  reference  not  to  His  divine  but  true 
human  nature,  and  it  is  not  incompatible  with  the 
human  nature  of  Jesus  that  he  should  be  weighed 
down  by  overwhelming  sorrow  in  the  manner  here 
mentioned  by  St.  Luke.  The  fact  only  proves  that 
our  Lord  had  a  true  human  nature,  and  medical 
testimony  in  no  way  contravenes  the  assertion  of 
the  sacred  penman.  2^.  The  absence  of  these  two 
verses  from  ancient  copies  is  accounted  for  by  St. 
Jerome,  who  remarks  that  some  copyists  suppressed 
the  words  of  the  text  in  their  manuscripts  lest  they 
might  be  turned  to  account  by  the  enemies  of  our 
Blessed  Lord's  divinity.  / 

Gospel  of  St.  Joii:^  viii.  1-11 : — Protestant 
critics  insist  also  that  these  eleven  verses  belong  to 
an  author  other  than  St.  John,  because  I'',  they  are 
not  in  keeping  with  the  context ;  and  2'',  they 
do  not  appear  in  many  ancient  copies  and  versions. 


CAXOX   OF    THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES.  141 

The  first  argument,  however,  is  an  unfounded  asser- 
tion, as  an  examination  of  the  context  will  show. 
Jesus  is  in  Jerusalem  teaching  the  crowds,  gathered 
there  for  the  feast  of  Tabernacles.  The  numbers 
attracted  by  Him  are  so  great  that  the  jealous 
Pharisees  conspire  to  entrap  Him  into  some  breach 
of  the  law  so  as  to  weaken  His  authority  with  the 
people,  and  this  they  tried  to  effect  by  the  strata- 
gem, related  by  St.  Luke,  which,  therefore,  fits  in 
with  the  preceding  narrative.  2°.  St.  Augustine 
has  accounted  for  the  disappearance  of  this 
passage  by  attributing  it  to  an  intentional  act  on 
the  part  of  some  pious  copyists,  who  thought 
they  ought  to  remove  what  they  feared  would  en- 
courage the  faithful  to  commit  adultery  with  impu- 
nity. This  mistaken  zeal  St.  Augustine  condemned, 
saying  that  Jesus  significantly  added,  ''  Go,  and  now 
sin  no  more."/ 

Gospel  or  St.  John  xxi.  : — These  deuterocanoni- 
cal  passages  of  the  New  Testament  are  not  the  only 
ones  which  have  received  the  censure  of  Protestant 
critics.  They  would  expunge  the  21st  or  last  chapter 
of  St.  John's  Gospel,  and  their  ground  for  doing  so  is 
that  the  Evangelist  concluded  chapter  xx.  as  fol- 
lows: — *^Many  other  signs  also  did  Jesus  in  the 
'^  sight  of  His  disciples,  which  are  not  written  in 
"this  book.  But  these  are  written,  that  you  may 
"believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  : 
"and  that  believing,  you  may  have  life  in  His  name.''' 


142  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

That  these  were  the  last  words  of  this  Gospel,  no 
one,  they  say,  can  doubt,  and  yet  they  are  followed 
immediately  by  another  chapter  (xxi.),  which  it 
might  be  argued  cannot  belong  to  St.  John.  To 
this  it  may  be  said  that  the  words  quoted  do  not 
clearly  indicate  any  intention  on  the  part  of  the 
•sacred  writer  to  conclude  his  Gospel,  whereas  the 
final  passage  of  chapter  xxi.  is  evidently  the  close  of 
the  narrative.  / 

I.  Epistle  of  St.  John  v.  7 : — The  Socinians, 
and  the  more  modern  Unitarians,  who  deny  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  assert  that  this  seventh 
verse  is  interpolated.  Yet  the  words  are  read  in  all 
the  more  recent,  and  in  almost  all  the  ancient  manu- 
scripts of  the  Latin  Vulgate,  There  are  also  good 
grounds  for  concluding  that  St.  Jerome  himseK, 
when  engaged  upon  the  translation  of  the  Vulgate, 
inserted  this  passage  in  his  own  copy;  for  the 
Tulda  MS.,  written  in  546  by  "Vincent  of  Capua, 
contains  a  prologue  by  St.  Jerome  in  which  he 
defends  the  genuineness  of  this  verse.  ]N'ow,  it 
has  been  proved  that  as  a  witness  of  the  state  of  the 
original  text,  the  Vulgate  is  far  more  reliable  than 
any  existing  Greek  Testament  copy  or  version,  with 
or  without  the  controverted  passage.  It  is  true  that 
this  seventh  verse  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Vatican, 
Alexandrian,  Sinaitic,  and  other  early  Greek  codices. 
Eut  the  explanation  usually  given  seems  quite  rea- 
sonable, namely,  that  the  omission  by  the  copyist  in 


CANON    OF   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES.  143 

the  case  of  these  ancient  Greek  manuscripts,  was  due 
to  the  apparent  similarity  between  the  7th  and  8th 
verses,  which  thus  led  him  to  pass  over  the  former 
verse  as  having  been  copied.  The  copies  with  this 
omission  were  the  only  ones  available  to  many  of 
the  distinguished  scholars,  who  fought  the  battle  of 
the  Church  against  the  Arians,  and  hence  they  could 
not  have  quoted  this  seventh  verse,  no  matter  how 
important  it  was  for  their  argument.  Such  then  were 
the  assaults  persistently  made  by  the  enemy  on  the 
Sacred  canon.  They  have,  however,  been  success- 
fully repelled  at  every  stage  by  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  thus  she  has  secured  to  her  children,  with  infal- 
lible certainty,  God's  wiitten  word,  no  more  and  no 
less  than  was  handed  down  from  the  Apostles.  / 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

INTEEPRETATION   OF   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTUEES. 

\  The  Holy  Ghost  has  committed  to  the  teaching-body  of  the 
Church  the  true  m.eariiiig  of  every  Scripture  word  and  sentence, 
bearing  upon  faith  and  morals — This  declared  by  the  Council  of 
Trent,  and  affirmed  in  the  Vatican  Council — In  publishing  this 
sense  the  Church  bears  witness  to  the  fact  that  such  was  the  inter- 
pretation received  by  the  Christian  community  everywhere  from 
the  beginning — What  was  believed  in  the  Church  everywhercy 
aliuays  and  hy  all,  has  come  from  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  His 
Apostles — The  testimony  of  the  Church  to  the  existence  of  this 
uniform  and  general  belief  is  infallible — The  Church  testifies  to  the 
faith  of  the  Christian  community  directly  and  indirectly — The  true 
sense  of  the  Scripture  may  be  ascertained,  but  not  with  unerring 
certainty,  by  the  science  of  Sacred  Hermeneutics — Usage  of  Language 
— Examination  of  the  Context — Parallelism— The  literal  and 
mystical  sense  of  the  Scripture— Anti-Catholics,  as  a  rule,  deny 
that  any  mystical  or  spiritual  sense  is  to  be  found  distinct  from 
the  literal  sense  in  the  Bible — Exegesis,  or  the  science  of  making' 
known  the  true  sense  of  the  Scriptures — The  system  of  accom- 
modation— Anti-Catholic  systems  of  Biblical  interpretation — 
Evangelicals  and  Calvinists  claim  an  internal  illustration  of  the 
Holy  Spirit — Protestants  generally  hold  that  each  individual  is 
quite  capable  by  his  own  light  of  discovering  the  true  meaning  of 
God's  written  word.  \ 

1  IntePvPretation  of  THE  Sacred  Scriptures: — 
The  Holy  Ghost,  as  principal  Author  of  all  the 
books  on  the  Canon,  has  committed  to  the  teaching- 
body  of  the  Chui'ch  the  power  of  arriving  at  the  true 
sense  of  every  Scriptural  word  and  sentence,  bearing 


INTERPRETATION   OF   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES.        145 

upon  faith  and  morals.  The  Conncil  of  Trent  defined 
this  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  its  solemn  pro- 
nouncement has  been  afiirmed  (1870),  by  the  Vatican 
Council  in  the  following  words : — And  as  the 
''  things  which  the  Holy  Synod  of  Trent  decreed 
*'  soundly  concerning  the  interpretation  of  Divine 
"  Scripture,  in  order  to  curb  rebellious  spirits,  have 
"  been  wrongly  explained  by  some  men,  "We  renewing 
"  the  said  Decree,  declare  this  to  be  their  sense, 
''  That  in  matters  of  faith  and  morals  appertaining 
^'  to  the  edification  of  Christian  faith  and  doctrine, 
'^  that  is  to  be  held  as  the  true  sense  of  Holy  Scripture, 
^'  which  Holy  Mother  Church  hath  held  and  holds, 
"  to  whom  it  belongs  to  judge  of  the  true  sense  and 
'^  interpretation  of  the  Holy  Scripture ;  and,  there- 
"  fore,  that  it  is  permitted  to  no  one  to  interpret 
^'the  Sacred  Scripture  contrary  to  this  sense,  or 
''  even  contrary  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
''  Fathers  "  (Dogmatic  Constitution  on  the  Catholic 
Faith,  chap.  ii.  of  Eevelation).  / 

It  is,  therefore  an  article  of  Catholic  faith  that 
the  Church  has  from  the  Holy  Ghost  the  power  of 
interpreting  whatever  there  is  in  the  Bible  of  faith 
and  morals.  In  declaring  this  sense  the  Church 
does  nothing  more  than  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that 
such  was  the  acceptation  received  by  the  entire 
Christian  community  from  the  beginning.  Now  it 
is  a  fundamental  principle,  that  what  was  believed 
in  the  Church,  everywhere,  always,  and  by  all  fqtcod 

K 


146  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

uUque^  quod  semper^  quod  ah  om^iihus  crediturj^ 
must  have  emanated  from  the  teaching  of  Christ  or 
His  Apostles.  The  testimony  of  the  Church  to  the 
existence  of  this  uniform  and  general  belief  is  infal- 
lible inasmuch  as  it  rests  upon  the  assistance  of  the 
Holy  Ghost : — "  Eut  the  Paraclete,  the  Holy  Ghost, 
"  whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  will 
*'  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your 
"mind,  whatsoever  I  shall  have  said  to  you" 
(Gospel  of  St.  John  xiv.  26).  / 

How  does  the  Church  testify  to  this  faith  of  the 
Christian  community  from  its  inception  ?  l"",  directly 
by  solemnly  publishing,  under  pain  of  heresy,  the 
meaning  to  be  attached  to  a  disputed  passage.  Thus 
when  the  so-called  Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury controverted  the  Catholic  interpretation  of 
our  Lord's  well-known  words  on  the  Sacrament 
of  Penance  in  St.  John's  Gospel  (xx.  22,  23), 
the  Council  of  Trent  decreed : — "  If  anyone  saith, 
"that  those  words  of  the  Lord,  the  Saviour, 
"  'Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  sins  you  shall 
"forgive  they  are  forgiven  them,  and  whose  sins 
"you  e-hall  retain,  they  are  retained,'  are  not  to  be 
"understood  of  the  power  of  forgiving  sins  in  the 
"  Sacrament  of  penance,  as  the  Catholic  Church  has 
^^  always  from  the  heginning  understood  them;  but 
"wrests  them,  contrary  to  the  institution  of  this 
"  Sacrament,  to  the  power  of  preaching  the  Gospel; 
"let  him  be  anathema."     (Session  xiv.,  Canon  iii.) 


INTERPRETATION   OF   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES.  147 

2^,  indirectly^  when  the  Cliiircli  testifies  to  this  Chris- 
tian belief  by  appealing  to  the  morally  unanimous 
consent  of  the  Fathers  as  witnesses  of  the  interpre- 
tation that  prevailed,  down  to  their  time,  throughout 
the  household  of  faith.  The  sense  which  they  pro- 
claim was,  beyond  doubt,  the  true  one  ilien^  and 
because  the  faith  of  Christ  never  changes  it  must  be 
so  now.  The  Fathers  of  the  Vatican  Council,  like 
their  predecessors  of  Trent,  decreed  that  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  shall  be  always  interpreted  strictly  in 
accordance  "with  the  true  sense  which  Holy  Mother 
"  Church  hath  held  and  holds,  .  .  .  and,  therefore, 
"  that  it  is  permitted  to  no  one  to  interpret  the  Sacred 
^'  Scripture  contrary  to  their  sense,  or  even  contrary 
*^  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Fathers."  3°  The 
Church  also  proposes  indirectly  the  true  sense  of 
God's  written  word  by  the  analogy  of  faitJi^  that  is, 
the  essential  unity  that  joins  together  the  whole 
body  of  her  divine  doctrines.  This  is  the  principle 
that  renders  false  any  Biblical  interpretation  which 
may  be  found  to  contradict  a  point  of  Catholic  faith.  / 

Hermeneutics: — It  is  only  by  this  teaching  of 
the  Church,  contained  in  the  belief  of  the  whole 
Christian  community  from  the  beginning,  and  pro- 
claimed by  her  definitive  judgment  or  gathered  from 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Fathers,  that  the  true 
sense  of  the  Scripture  can  be  discovered  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  exclude  all  possibility  of  doubt.  The 
same  sense  may  be  ascertained,  not,  however,  with 


148  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

the  same  uncrrmg  certainty,  by  making  use  of  those 
purely  human  critical  tests  for  arriving  at  the  mean- 
ing of  the  sacred  text.  These  constitute  what  is 
knoAvn  as  the  science  of  Hermeneutics  from  the 
Greek  epixrjvevoi  to  explain,  and  among  its  rules  the 
first  is  the  usage  of  language.  This  consists  in 
grasping  thoroughly  the  meaning,  which  the  princi- 
pal Author  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  wished  to  con- 
vey through  the  language  employed.  To  discover 
this  sense  correctly  one  must  l"",  be  acquainted  with 
the  Hebrew,  Chaldaic  and  Greek  of  the  originals,  as 
well  as  the  cognate  languages.  A  knowledge  of 
Latin  is  not  enough,  because  the  Yulgate,  though 
an  authentic  translation,  does  not  reflect  the  full 
force  of  the  originals  ;  2'',  the  signification  attached 
to  the  words  of  these  ancient  languages  at  the  time 
they  were  written  must  be  ascertained  as  far  as 
possible.  This  is  the  more  necessary,  because 
the  people,  then  addressed,  understoood  some  wcll- 
knoAvn  Biblical  terms  in  a  manner  different  from 
their  posterity,  just  as  the  present  generation  in 
these  countries  gives  to  some  English  words  quite 
another  meaning  from  that  attached  to  them  by 
their  ancestors  of  even  a  hundred  years  ago.  f 

The  examination  of  the  context  is  a  second  most 
important  law  in  the  science  of  Hermeneutics. 
A  skilful  author  will  endeavour  to  arrange  his 
matter  so  that  the  thoughts  appear  to  grow  out  of 
each   other.     This  is  what  is    known   as    logical 


INTERPRETATION    OF   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES.        149 

sequence,  and  we  must  expect  to  find  it  in  absolute 
perfection  in  the  Scripture.  Hence,  by  tracing  this 
mutual  relation  of  one  sentence  with  another  in 
Holy  writ,  the  true  sense  will  be  brought  to  light 
and  stamped  with  all  the  security  that  this  human 
aid  is  capable  of  giving.  / 

When  this  examination  of  the  context  and  the 
usage  of  language  will  not  suffice,  parallelism  may  be 
usefully  applied.  Thus  it  often  happens  that  the 
same  thoughts,  and  even  the  same  words  recur  in 
various  parts  of  the  Bible.  These  are  called  parallel 
passages,  and  when  closely  compared,  the  result 
is  sure,  though  not  infallibly,  to  lead  to  the 
true  meaning.  The  concordance  of  the  Latin  Yul- 
gate  exhibits  at  a  glance  these  parallel  passages,  so 
that  they  are  easily  collated.  / 

In  arriving  at  the  true  sense  of  the  Scripture, 
valuable  assistance  may  be  derived,  too,  from  a 
careful  consideration  of  the  attendant  circumstances, 
namely,  the  character  of  the  audience,  the  occasion 
that  gave  rise  to  the  discourse,  as  well  as  its  scope. 
These  and  other  scientific  rules  of  Biblical  interpre- 
tation are  not  ignored  in  the  Catholic  Church. 
They  are  as  dear  to  Catholics  as  to  the  Protest- 
ants of  every  shade,  and  in  employing  them  on  the 
Sacred  text,  a  Catholic  exercises  the  same  liberty  of 
interpretation  as  the  Protestant.  While,  however, 
Catholics  diligently  and  profitably  apply  all  these 
laws    of  Sacred  Hermeneutics  they  are  infallibly 


150  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

secured  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  speaking  through  His 
teaching  Church,  from  straying  out  of  the  right 
path  that  leads  to  the  true  meaning  of  the  text. 

The  SejS'se  of  the  Sacred  Scripture  : — Under 
the  influence  of  this  divine  light,  which  guides  the 
teaching  Church,  Catholics  are  enabled  to  deter- 
mine, without  danger  of  error,  the  literal  as  well  as 
the  spiritual  or  mystical  signification  of  God's  writ- 
ten word. 

The  Literal  Sense  of  the  Bible  : — The  literal 
sense  is  the  simple,  original  signification,  which 
belongs  to  the  letter  of  the  Bible,  like  any  other 
book.  A  word  or  sentence  in  this  literal  significa- 
tion is  sometimes  used  by  the  Holy  Ghost  as  a 
figure  of  another  thing  to  which  it  has  a  resemblance 
As,  for  example,  when  the  Sacred  writer  designated 
Jesus  as  the  Lamh  of  God  (John  i.  29),  he  means 
that,  because  of  its  innocence  and  meekness,  the 
lamb  is  a  figure  of  the  Saviour.  / 

The  Mystical  or  Spiritual  Sense  of  the 
Bible  : — The  sense  which  is  now  and  then,  not 
always,  hidden  beneath  the  literal  signification  of 
the  word  or  words  of  the  Sacred  text,  is  the  mystical 
or  spiritual  sense,  and  occurs,  in  the  use  of  the  word 
Jerusalem,  which  is  literally  the  capital  of  Judoca  ; 
but  mystically  heaven,  the  home  of  the  blessed- 
Anti-Catholics,  as  a  rule,  deny  that  any  spiritual 
sense  is  to  be  found,  distinct  from  the  literal,  in  the 
Bible.     But  the  existence  of  this  mystical  sense,  in 


INTERPRETATIOX    OF    THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES.       151 

many  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  is  certified  by  St» 
Paul.     Thus  he  declares  in  his  first  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  that  the  things,  which  happened  to  the 
Israelites  in  the  Eed  Sea,  and  in  the  desert  were 
^^ done  in  a  figure  of  us"  (x.  6).     Again,   in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  he  states,   unequivocally, 
that  the  whole  of  the  Old  Law  was  a  figure  of  the 
new  dispensation  : — "  For  the  law  having  a  shadow 
^'  of  the  good  things  to  come,  not  the  very  image  of 
"the  things;  by  the   self -same   sacrifices,    which 
"  they  offer  continually  every  year,  can  never  make 
"the   comers   thereunto  perfect"  (x.  1).     Much, 
therefore,   of  the   old   Testament,   has  a  spiritual 
sense,    because,    as    St.  Augustine    says : — "  The 
Old  Testament  is  the  promise  in   figure."     Now, 
since  this  mystical  sense  is  that  which  is  hidden 
under   the   letter,  every  passage  with   a  spiritual 
sense  has  also  a  literal  one ;  but  that  any  word  or 
sentence  has  more  than  one  literal  sense,    is  not 
admitted  by  Catholic  authorities  generally.  / 

Exegesis  : — Having  thus  obtained  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  Scriptures,  the  next  step  is  to  make  this 
meaning  intelligible  to  others.  This  is  the  office  of 
Exegesis,  which  bears  the  same  relation  to  Herme- 
neutics  as  practice  does  to  theory,  and  consists  in 
expounding  the  true  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  which 
is  done  chiefly  by  commentators.  Preachers  often 
travel  outside  the  province  of  Exegesis  when  they 
apply  the  words  of  Scripture  to  every-day  matters, 


152  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

which  do  not  belong  either  to  the  literal  or  mystical 
sense.  It  is  known  as  the  system  of  accommodation 
in  Scripture,  for  it  accommodates  the  Sacred  text  to 
subjects  not  treated  therein.  J 

Anti-Catholic  Systems  of  Eiblical  Inter- 
peetation: — Evangelicals  and  Calvinists  claim  an 
internal  illustration  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  instruct 
them  in  the  true  meaning  of  every  Scriptural  doc- 
trine, necessary  for  salvation.  This  is  a  strange 
imitation  of  the  infallible  principle  of  Catholic 
interpretation ;  but  the  great  body  of  Protestants 
hold  the  doctrine  that  each  individual  is  quite 
capable  by  his  own  lights  of  discovering  the  true 
sense  of  God's  written  word.  To  rest  Christian 
faith,  however,  on  man's  own  impressions  or  con- 
victions is  to  Imow  little  of  the  wild  vagaries  of  the 
human  mind,  and  to  forget  the  fate  of  the  primitive 
revelation  among  the  bulk  of  mankind.  / 


CHAPTEE  X. 

AUTHORITY  OF  THE  LATIN  VULGATE  AND  THE  READINO 
OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  VEENACULAR. 

/  That  the  Latm  Vulgate  is  an  authentic  translation  solemnly  de- 
fined by  Catholic  Church— What  Catholics  are  obliged  to  believe 
by  this— The  Latin  Vulgate  by  this  not  elevated  above  the  originals 
or  ancient  versions— Latin  Vulgate  identified — Its  revision — It 
alone  lawfully  used  in  Catholic  liturgy  and  worship— From  it  alone 
translations  into  the  people's  language  must  be  made— It  has  been 
pronounced  by  Protestants  not  to  be  faithful  to  the  originals — 
They  set  it  aside  and  profess  to  make  their  versions  direct  from  the 
Hebrew  and  Greek  texts— It  represents  Hebrew  and  Greek  copies 
nearer  in  point  of  age  to  the  originals  than  any  existing  manu- 
script copies— Safer  to  follow  the  Vulgate  than  modern  transla- 
lations,  made  from  existing  copies  of  originals — Perversion  of 
datholic  meaning  of  inspired  text  in  Protestant  versions — Instances 
of  this  in  Luther's  and  Beza's  translations  as  well  as  in  the  English 
Protestant  versions— Catholic  doctrine  on  the  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures by  the  faithful— Well  expressed  by  Dr.  Dixon — Conditions 
imposed  by  Catholic  Church  for  reading  the  Bible  in  the  mother- 
tongue.  / 

^Catholics  and  the  Latin  Yulgate  : — Catliolics 
hold  as  an  article  of  faith  that  the  Latin  Yulgate  is 
an  authentic  translation  of  God's  written  word,  that 
is,  they  believe  with  infallible  certainty  that  the 
Latin  Vulgate  is  free  from  the  taint  of  corruption, 
so  that  between  it  and  the  originals  there  is  no  ma- 


154         INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

terial  difference.  This  is  what  the  Council  of  Trent 
solemnly  affirmed  in  the  following  words : — "  More- 
'^  over  the  same  Sacred  and  holy  Synod,  considering 
'^  that  no  small  utility  may  accrue  to  the  Church  of 
^'  God,  if  it  be  made  known  which  out  of  all  the 
^^  Latin  editions  now  in  circulation  of  the  Sacred 
"  Books  is  to  be  held  as  authentic,  ordains  and  de- 
*'  clares  that  the  said  old  and  Yulgate  edition,  which 
*^by  the  lengthened  usage  of  so  many  ages  has 
''been  approved  of  in  the  Church,  be  in  public  lec- 
^'tures,  disputations,  sermons,  and  expositions  held 
'^  as  authentic,  and  that  no  one  is  to  dare  to  reject  it 
"under  any  pretence  whatever."  (Session  lY., 
Decree  concerning  the  edition  and  the  use  of  the 
sacred  books.)  / 

In  this  decree  it  is  not  defined  either  that  the 
Latin  "Vulgate  is  an  immaculate  translation,  or  more 
perfect  than  any  other  version,  or  equal  to  the 
originals  themselves.  The  Council  has  even  made 
public  profession  to  the  contrary  ;  for  after  the 
Fathers  had  just  solemnly  pronounced  the  Yulgate 
to  be  authentic,  they  directed  that  '' henceforth  the 
''  Sacred  Scripture,  and  especially  the  said  old  Yul- 
"  gate  edition,  be  printed  in  the  most  correct  maimer 
"possible."  This  supposes  that  there  were  eri'ors 
then  existing  to  be  corrected  and  will  be  hence- 
forth, though  not  of  a  serious  character.  Now  these 
cannot  be  detected  without  a  knowledge  of  the 
ancient  languages  in  which  the  Scripture  originals 


THE   LATIN   VULGATE,    ETC.  15 5- 

"were  written,  and  also  of  those  into  which  it  was 
translated.  It  follows  that,  so  far  from  elevating 
the  Yulgate  above  the  originals  or  any  other  ancient 
versions,  the  Tridentine  Fathers  have  made  it  de- 
pendent for  its  revision  on  the  study  not  only  of  the 
languages  of  the  original,  but  of  those  of  the  ancient 
versions.  At  the  same  time,  in  the  words  of  the 
decree  just  quoted,  the  Yulgate  is  contrasted  with  the 
Latin  versions  then  in  circulation,  and  is  identified 
as : — ''  the  old  and  Yulgate  edition  which  has  been 
"approved  by  the  long  use  of  so  many  ages  in  the 
*'  Church,"  that  is  St.  Jerome's  Latin  text  of  the 
Eible  which  was  called  Vulgate  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, because  as  St.  Isidore  of  Seville  (630)  says,  it 
was  then  in  common  use  throughout  the  whole  Church 
^^  generaliter  omnes  Ecclesice  usquequaqiie  lUunturP/ 

The  Fathers  of  the  Council  of  Trent  by  no  means 
authorize  every  one  who  may  possess  a  knowledge 
of  the  ancient  languages  to  engage  in  the  correction 
of  the  Yulgate,  and  Pope  Clement  YIIL  positively 
forbids  any  such  attempt  to  be  made,  unless  by  one 
commissioned  by  the  Church.  In  the  Bull  attached 
to  his  own  revised  edition,  he  says  : — "  Let  the 
"  Yulgate  edition  be  read  in  all  the  Churches  with- 
"  out  the  least  particle  being  added  or  taken  away." 
When,  therefore,  the  Council  of  Trent  commanded 
the  Yulgate  edition  to  be  first  corrected,  and  then 
printed,  no  uninvited  person  or  persons  dared  to 
carry  out  this  ordinance ;  but  two  great  Popes  in 


156  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

succession,  namely,  Sixtus  V.  and  Clement  YIII., 
employed  upon  the  work  the  services  of  the  most 
eminent  Biblical  scholars  of  the  time,  like  Caraffa 
and  Bellarmine.  "When  Sixtus  Y.  brought  out  his 
edition  in  1590,  it  came  to  be  considered  unsatisfac- 
tory, so  that  the  revision  of  the  Yulgate  was 
resumed  by  orders  of  Clement  YIII.,  and  having 
extended,  with  interruptions,  over  a  period  of  forty 
years,  it  was  happily  brought  to  a  close  in  1592,  by 
this  illustrious  Pope,  who  published  the  Yulgate 
Bible,  which  bears  his  name.  \ 

Lastly,  the  Fathers  of  the  Council  of  Trent  in 
this  Decree  ordain : — "  That  the  said  old  and 
"  Yulgate  edition,  be  in  public  lectures,  disputations, 
"  sermons,  and  expositions  held  as  authentic."  Thus 
the  Catholic  Chui'ch  has  solemnly  approved  of  the 
Latin  Yulgate,  that  it  alone  may  be  lawfully  used 
in  her  liturgy  and  worship.  "No  priest,  therefore, 
officiating  in  his  public  capacity,  can  use  a  translation 
made  by  himself  from  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and 
no  Catholic  layman  is  free  to  read  a  translation  of 
the  whole  Bible  into  the  vernacular  unless  it  be 
taken  from  the  Latin  Yulgate.  This  is  confirmed 
by  the  practice  of  the  Church  since  the  Decree  of 
the  Council  of  Trent  in  giving  her  approbation  to 
vernacular  translations  of  the  Bible,  only  when  they 
arc  in  strict  conformity  to  the  Latin  Yulgate.  \ 

Protestants  and  the  Latin  Yulgate  : — In  the 
sixteenth    century,    when  the    founders    of   Pro- 


THE    LATIN    VULGATE,    ETC.  157 

testantism  were  met  by  the  authority  of  the 
Yulgate,  they  said  that  this  translation  did  not 
faithfully  represent  the  originals.  Accordingly  they 
professed  to  set  it  aside,  and  to  make  their  versions 
direct  from  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  text.  But  the 
Latin  Yulgate  text  is  600  years  older  than  any 
existing  copy  of  the  Hebrew  original,  and  200  years^ 
earlier  than  the  date  of  any  known  manuscript  of  the 
Greek  text.  The  Latin  Yulgate,  therefore,  repre- 
sents Hebrew  and  Greek  copies,  nearer  by  far,  in 
point  of  age,  to  the  originals,  than  any  of  the 
manuscripts,  which  were  to  be  found  in  the  six- 
teenth century  or  have  since  been  discovered. 
Therefore  in  determining  the  correct  meaning  of  the 
Scripture  text  there  will  be  greater  certainty  of 
arriving  at  the  true  sense  of  what  was  first  written 
by  following  the  Latin  Yulgate,  which  was  derived 
from  the  most  ancient  copies  of  the  originals,  at  a 
time  when  the  text  was  more  pure,  and  the  Hebrew 
and  Greek  better  understood,  than  by  adopting  as^ 
a  guide  those  versions  taken  by  Protestants  from 
comparatively  modern  copies,  and  made  when  tho 
knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  of  the  originals 
was  undoubtedly  less  perfect.  | 

Then  the  most  prominent  among  the  authors  of 
these  Protestant  versions  did  not  hesitate  at  times 
to  corrupt  the  sacred  text  in  their  translations  to 
make  it  favour  their  new  doctrines.  For  instance, 
in    his    German    translation   of    the    well-laiown 


158  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

text  from  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Eomans : — 
^'  For  we  account  a  man  to  be  justified  by  faith 
^^  without  the  works  of  the  law"  (Eomans  iii.  28), 
Luther  inserted  the  word,  'alone,'  after  '  justified,'  to 
establish  his  anti-Catholic  teaching  of  the  sufficiency 
of  faith  for  justification.  XJiDon  being  remonstrated 
with  for  this  interpolation  he  replied : — ''  So  I  will,  so 
'^  I  command,  let  my  wish  stand  for  the  reason.  The 
'^word,  alone,  must  remain  in  my  "New  Testament, 
"although  all  the  Papists  run  mad,  they  shall  not 
^'  take  it  from  thence.  It  grieves  me  that  I  did  not 
"add  also  those  other  two  words  without  all  works 
"  of  all  laws."/ 

Theodore  Beza,  the  immediate  successor  of  Calvin 
as  head  of  the  Swiss  Protestants  (1564),  translated 
the  Greek  Testament  into  Latin,  and  his  mode  of 
altering  the  original  to  give  colour  to  his  Calvinistic 
notions  is  well  described  by  Dr.  MacKnight,  a  Pro- 
testant -writer  of  acknowledged  authority.  In  the 
t)reface  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Epistles,  he  says: — 
"  He  (Beza)  hath  mistranslated  a  number  of  texts 
"  for  the  purpose,  it  would  seem,  of  establishing  his 
'^peculiar  doctrines  and  confuting  his  opponents. 
"Eurther  by  omitting  some  of  the  original  words, 
"  and  by  adding  others  without  any  necessity,  ho 
"hath,  in  his  translation,  perverted,  or  at  least 
"  darkened  some  passages,  so  that  to  speak  imparti- 
"ally  his  translation  is  neither  literal,  faithful,  nor 
"  perspicuous.     Nevertheless,  Beza  having  acquii-ed 


THE    LA.TIN   VULGATE,    ETC.  159 

^'  great  fame,  both  as  a  linguist  and  as  a  divine,  the 
"learned  men  who  afterwards  translated  the  l^ew 
"  Testament  for  the  use  of  the  reformed  Churches 
'•  were  too  much  swayed  by  his  opinions."  / 

In  the  first  Protestant  translations  of  the  Eible 
into  English  by  Tyndale  and  Coverdale  (1530  and 
1535),  the  original  word  ciSwXov  (idol)  (2    Corinthi- 
ans vi.  16,  and  1st  Epistle  of  St.  John  v.  21)  is  turned 
into  image.     This  erroneous  rendering,  directed  no 
doubt,  against  the  Catholic  use  and  veneration  of 
images,  was  repeated  in  the  Geneva  Bible  (1557)  as 
well  as  in  the  Bishop^ s  Bible  (1568).     "With  the 
same  anti-Catholic  object  the  original  words  cK/cXr^o-ia 
(church)  and  ©vo-tao-n^ptov  (altar)  were  translated  into 
congregation  and  temple.      And  in  the  Authorised 
Yersion  (1605)  the  Catholic  practice  of  receiving 
holy  communion  in  one  kind  is  insidiously  attacked 
by  having  the  Greek  y  literally  or,   translated  into 
and,     "  The  meaning  of  this  ry,"  writes  Dean  AKord, 
"  is  not  to  be  changed  to  Kut,  as  is  most  unfairly  done 
"in  our  English    Version,    and  the    comjileteness 
"of    the     argument    thereby     destroyed."      And 
Dean   Stanley,    another   Protestant    authority,    on 
1  Corinth,  (xi.  27)  note,  p.  202,  says :—"  Probably 
"from  the  wish  to  accommodate  the  text  to  the 
'^  change  of  custom,  or  from  hostility  to  the  Eoman 
"  Catholic  practice  of  administering  the  bread  with- 
"  out  the  cup,  the  English  translators  have  umvar- 
'' rantabli/ TendGYed  rj,  'and,'  Km  for  r;  occurs  only  in 


160  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

"A.  and  in  tkree  cursive  MSS."  It  is  right  to  state 
that  this  rendering  has  been  corrected  in  the  revi- 
sion of  the  Authorized  Version  (Cambridge,  1881), 
and  is  made  to  read  thus : — ''  "Wherefore,  whoever 
'^  shall  eat  the  bread  or  drink  the  cup  of  the  Lord 
*^  unworthily  shall  be  guilty  of  the  body  and  blood 
"of  the  Lord." \ 

Catholic  Church  and  the  reading  of  the  Bible 
IN  the  mother-tongue  : — It  is  an  essential  part  of 
Catholic  doctrine  that  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures 
in  their  own  language  is  not  necessary  for  the  faith- 
ful in  order  to  know  what  they  are  bound  to  believe 
and  practise  to  gain  eternal  life.  This  knowledge 
they  can  and  must  receive  by  divine  arrangement, 
from  authorized  teachers,  whom  God  has  provided 
in  His  Church: — '^As  to  the  simple  faithful,"  says 
the  learned  Dr.  Dixon,  "  the  rule  in  the  Chiistian 
"  Church  has  always  been  that  they  should  learn  the 
*' doctrines  of  religion  and  their  duty  to  God,  by 
"  means  of  the  instructions  of  the  constituted  teachers 
"in  the  Church.  The  private  study  or  perusal  of 
"  the  sacred  volume  has  never  been  obligatory  upon 
•'them.''  (General  Introduction  to  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, Vol.  I.,  p.  228.)  At  the  same  time  the  pious 
and  well-instructed  are  earnestly  exhorted  to 
procure  the  Bible  and  to  read  it  in  the  language  they 
understand  best,  and  to  foster  this  Catholic  practice 
the  publication  of  cheap  translations  of  the 
Bible    is    warmly    encouraged  by  the  Holy   See. 


THE    LATIN   VULGATI!,    ETC.  161 

From  the  history  of  the  Scripture  versions  in 
another  chapter  no  one  can  doubt  that  at  a  very 
early  period  it  was  common  in  the  Catholic  Church 
to  have  the  Bible  turned  into  the  languages  of  the 
various  peoples,  who  came  into  her  fold.  After  the 
invention  of  printing,  a  great  number  of  these  verna- 
cular translations  spread  over  the  West,  as  is  shown 
by  the  circulation  of  twenty-three  German  transla- 
tions, and  more  than  fifty  other  versions  in  the 
various  European  idioms,  long  before  Luther  pub- 
lished his  German  Protestant  version.  Thus  the 
use  of  translations  in  the  native  tongues  was  adopted 
by  the  Church  as  good  and  useful^  but  a  time-  came 
when  this  good  and  useful  practice  was  abused.  It 
has  been  shown  that  Luther  availed  himself  of  it 
to  try  to  sap  the  foundation  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
and  that  his  example-  w'as  followed  by  other 
notorious  propagandists  of  heterodox  opinions.  The 
Church,  believing  that  Christ  confided  to  her  trust, 
His  saving  doctrines,  was  bound  to  prevent  these 
truths  from  the  danger  of  being  lost  or  even 
obscured  through  means  of  versions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, in  which  the  true  meaning  was  intentionally 
distorted  with  the  avowed  object  of  putting  it  into 
opposition  with  what  is  most  sacred  in  Catholic 
belief.  This  she  did  in  the  Rules  of  the  Index 
(No.  4),  drawn  up  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  where 
it  is  set  down  authoritatively  : — "  Since  experi- 
^'  ence  has  made  it  manifest  that  the  reading  of 

L 


162  INTRODUCTION  TO   THE   SACRED   Sr^HlPTURES. 


''  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  if  it  is  permitted 
''to  all  indiscriminately,  causes,  through  the 
''temerity  of  men,  more  detriment  than  utility, 
"let  the  judgment  of  the  bishops  or  the  inquisitor 
"  be  followed  in  the  matter,  who,  with  the  advice  of 
"the  parish  priest  or  confessor,  can  permit  the 
"reading  of  these  versions  in  the  vulgar  tongue, 
"that  have  been  made  by  Catholic  authors,  to  those 
"  whom  they  shall  know  to  be  fit  to  derive  from 
"  this  reading  not  detriment,  but  an  increase 
"  of  faith  and  piety — and  let  this  permission  be  in 
"  writing."/ 

In  June,  1757,  the  congregation  of  the  Index, 
under  Pope  Benedict  XIY.,  not  only  confirmed  this 
fourth  rule  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  but  added  to  it 
the  following  clause  : — "  These  versions  of  the 
"  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue  are  permitted,  when 
"  they  have  been  approved  by  the  Holy  See,  or  are 
"  published  with  notes  dra^vn  from  the  Holy 
"  Fathers,  or  from  learned  Catholic  writers."  Thus 
to  render  a  version  in  the  native  language  accessible 
to  the  faithful,  it  is  not  enough  that  it  be  the 
work  of  a  Catholic,  and  sanctioned  by  episcopal 
authority.  It  must  be  furnished  also  with  notes 
explaining  those  obscure  and  difficult  passages, 
which  ordinary  readers  may  "  wrest  to  their  own 
destruction"  (2nd  Epistle  of  St.  Peter  iii.  15). 
Hence  it  is  perfectly  legitimate  for  Catholics  to 
read  any  vernacular  translation  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 


THE   LATIN   VULGATE,    ETC.  163 

tures  made  from  the  Latin  Vulgate  by  a  Catholic, 
furnished  with  explanatory  notes,  and  having  the 
episcopal  sanction,  or  the  approbation  of  the  Holy 
See,  though  this  latter  is  not  needed,  nor  has  it  been 
actually  accorded  to  most  of  the  Catholic  versions 
of  the  Eible  in  the  modern  languages.  The  action 
of  the  Church  in  this  matter  is  wise  and  practical, 
and  is,  moreover,  analogous  to  the  course  pursued 
by  the  civil  authority ;  for  the  State  visits  with 
punishment  the  publication  and  circulation  of 
seditious  and  indecent  books  to  save  her  subjects 
from  being  corrupted "  in  their  duties  as  good 
citizens,  and  yet  the  State  cannot  be  said  to  pro- 
scribe the  diffusion  of  sound  literature^  So  the 
Catholic  Church,  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  her 
sacred  office,  has  subjected  to  restriction  the  verna- 
cular versions  of  the  Bible  in  order  to  prevent  the 
circulation  of  any  which  might  be  directed  to 
undermine  the  faith  of  her  people.  / 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   BOOK  OP   GENESIS   AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE. 

/  I.  Mosaic  Age  of  the  World  :— Day — Morning  and  Evening 
— Catholics  free  to  hold  that  the  six  days  of  Moses  indicate  six 
great  Epochs — Demands  of  Geology  satisfied. 

II.  Mosaic  Antiquity  of  Man  :— The  age  of  man,  as  given  in 
Genesis — Though  not  bound  to  accept  this  total  as  necessarily 
complete  Catholics  hold  that  Science  has  not  proved  the  age  of 
man  to  exceed  this  computation — Examination  of  the  arguments 
from  Geology,  Philology,  ani  Chronology  against  this. 

III.  Mosaic  Origin  of  Plants  and  Animals:— That  each 
species  of  plants  and  animals  had  an  independent  origin,  apparently 
taught  in  Genesis — This,  though  not  declared  by  the  Church,  is 
believed  by  Catholics  to  .bo  the  true  sense  of  the  words  of  Moses — 
Darwin's  theory  inhis.  **  Origin  of  Species." 

IV.  Mosaic  Origin  of  Man  :— Creation  of  man's  body— Crea- 
tion of  man's  soul — Darwin's  views  on  the  origin  of  man. 

V.  Original  Unity  of  the  Human  Race  :— Every  man  who 
came  into  the  world,  since  Adam,  is  descended  from  him— Pre- 
Adamite  heresy — Examination  of  arguments  against  unity  of  the 
human  race. 

VI.  The  Deluge— The  fact  that  God  sent  the  Flood  upon  the 
earth  is  inspired — It  is  denied  by  some — A  hsolute  universality  of 
the  Flood,  though  not  defined  by  the  Church,  is  Catholic  teaching 
— Examination  of  the  arguments  of  Sceptics  against  it.  f 

1  I.  Mosaic  Age  of  the  World: — Belief  and 
unbelief  have  fought  so.  long  and  so  desperately 
over  the  history  of  the  creation,  that  the  Book  of 
Genesis,  wherein  it  is  contained,  may  be  well  con- 
sidered the  battle-field  of  the  Bible.  It  is  the 
religious    controversy    that    is    occupying  public 


THE    BOOK   OF    GENESIS   AND   NATURAL    SCIENCE.       165 

attention  at  present,  more  than  at  any  time  in  the 
world's  history,  and  men,  professing  the  principles 
of  Christianity,  have  been  found  to  range  themselves 
on  the  side  of  those,  who  refuse  to  recognise  in  this 
part  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  the  ^unerring  word 
of  God.  / 

"In  the  beginning  God  'created  heaven  and 
"earth.  And  the  earth  was  void  and  empty,  and 
"  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  the 
"  Spirit  of  God  moved  over  the  waters  "  (Genesis  i, 
1,2).  Such  are  the  terms  in  which  Moses  relates 
the  creation  of  the  universe,  and  he  then  proceeds 
to  tell  in  succession  that  "  God  made^'  the  light 
and  heat,  which  are  necessary  to  render  the  globe 
habitable ;  also  "  the  firmament  for  dividing  the 
waters  from  the  waters;"  the  vegetable  world ;  the 
fishes  and  the  birds ;  "  cattle  and  ^creeping  things? 
and  beasts  of  the  earth ;  "  and  last,  but  not  least, 
he  says  : — "  That  God  created  man  to  His  own 
"  image,  to  the  image  of  God  He  created  him,  male 
"  and  female  He  created  them  "  (Genesis  i.  27).  / 

The  Sacred  writer  uses  the  word  Day  ;  but  that 
he  meant  by  it  to  denote  a  space  of  indeterminate 
duration  has  been  taught  by  the  Yenerable  Bede 
in  his  commentary  on  this  passage : — "  It  is  mani- 
"fest  that  in  this  place  the  Sacred  writer  has  put 
"the  word  Day  for  all  that  time  during  which  the 
"primeval  creation  was  brought  into  existence, 
"  For  it  was  not  upon  one  of  the  six  days  that  thei 


166  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

<^  sky  was  made  and  adorned  with  stars,  and  the 
*^  dry  land  was  separated  from  the  waters,  and 
^'  furnished  with  trees  and  plants.  But,  according 
"  to  its  accustomed  practice.  Scripture  here  uses  the 
"  word  Day  in  the  sense  of  time."  Then  as  the 
day  opens  with  the  morning,  and  closes  with  the 
evening,  Moses  employed  these  terms  to  indicate 
the  beginning  and  ending  of  the  different  stages, 
accomplished  by  the  Divine  Architect  in  preparing 
here  below  a  temporary  home  for  man.  / 

In  all  this  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  there  is 
nothing  but  what  is  infallibly  certain,  for  infalli- 
bility is  an  essential  part  of  the  inspiration,  which 
the  sacred  writer  undoubtedly  possessed.  There  are, 
however,  some  outside  the  Catholic  Church  who 
refuse  to  accept  the  truth  of  this  record,  on  the 
ground  that  it  does  not  harmonize  with  the  theories, 
based  upon  the  recent  investigations  of  the  strata 
beneath  the  earth's  surface.  It  has  been  ascer- 
tained, they  say,  that  these  formations  are  the 
growth  not  of  six  days,  but  of  countless  ages. 
It  is,  however,  to  be  noted  that  wherever  in  the 
Bible  any  statement  occurs  touching  history,  geo- 
graphy, or  any  branch  of  natural  science,  the 
Catholic  Church  invariably  leaves  the  meaning  of 
the  expression  employed  to  be  determined  by  ordi- 
nary humaji  lights.  But  since  these  parts  of  the 
Sacred  Scripture,  like  those  that  relate  to  doctrine, 
are  covered  by  inspiration,  the  Church  insists  that 


THE    BOOK   OF    GENESIS   AND    NATURAL    SCIENCE.      167 

the  scientific  explanation  put  upon  them  shall  neither 
clash  with  any  certain  discovery  in  nature,  nor  create 
a  direct  contradiction  between  one  inspired  writer 
and  another.  Catholics  are  perfectly  free,  therefore, 
to  hold  that  Moses,  by  these  six  days^  did  not  mean 
six  ordinary  days  of  twenty-four  hours  each,  but  six 
great  epochs,  corresponding  with  the  successive 
stages  which  seem  to  be  reflected  in  the  life  of  the 
globe.  Geologists,  relying  on  the  vegetable  and 
animal  remains,  imbedded  in  the  rocks,  require  vast 
spaces  of  time  for  the  necessarily  tedious  and  gradual 
development  of  the  various  layers  where  these  relics 
of  the  past  are  found;  and  this  geological  demand  is 
amply  satisfied  by  the  long  periods  to  which  these 
days  of  Genesis  may  be  expanded.  / 

Moses,  in  this  description  of  how  ali  things  came 
into  existence,  proposes  to-  teach  his  people  such 
truths  as  would  save  them  from  their  besetting  sin 
of  giving  to  creatures  the  supreme  worship  that 
belonged  to  God  alone.  With  this  object  he  told 
them  that  the  whole  world,  with  its  manifold  and 
teeming  life,  came  from  God,  and  not  from  any  seK- 
existing  principle,  or  by  chance.  Consequently,  to 
pay  divine  honour  either  to  the  stones,  brutes,  and 
men  on  the  earth,  or  to  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  in 
the  sky,  would  be  an  insult  to  the  Creator  and 
Sovereign  Lord  of  these  things,  as  well  as  a  flagrant 
violation  of  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  true 
religion,  namely,  the  unity  of  God.     In  explaining 


168  INTRODUCTIOX   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

tMs,  Moses  did  not  speak  above  the  intelligence  of 
tliose  whom  he  addressed,  by  making  use  of  the 
language  of  scientific  terminology.  Still  all  his 
statements  touching  the  origin  of  things,  are 
perfectly  consistent,  and  have  never  been  proved  to 
contain  error.  \ 

II.  The  Mosaic  ANTiauiTY  of  Man  : — Moses  has 
not  left  the  age  of  the  human  race  undefined  as  he  did 
that  of  the  world.  In  the  fifth  and  eleventh  chap- 
ters of  Genesis  the  genealogical  succession  is  duly 
registered  with  the  number  of  years  from  Adam  to 
ZS"oe,  and  from  Xoe  to  Abraham,  which,  according 
to  the  Latin  Vulgate,  amounts  to  a  period  of  2,021 
years.  The  Septuagint  or  ancient  Greek  version 
fixes  the  number  at  3,387  years.  !N'ow,  taking  even 
the  longer  of  these  two  periods,  and  adding  some 
2,000  years  for  the  interval  between  the  call  of 
Abraham  and  the  birth  of  Christ,  together  with  the 
1889  of  the  Christian  era,  the  present  age  of  man, 
as  given  in  Genesis,  is  not  quite  8,000  years. 
Though  Catholics  are  not  bound  by  any  solemn 
decree  of  the  Church  to  accept  this  total  of  8,000 
years  as  necessarily  complete,  still  they  hold  that 
the  evidence  produced  by  science  on  the  matter  does 
not  prove  the  age  of  man  to  exceed  this  computation.  / 

Some  Geologists  maintain  that  200,000  years  and 
more  would  not  suffice  to  bake  the  ''  drift "  lately 
explored  in  a  few  caves  of  Great  Britain  and  else- 
where.   Yet  mai^i,  they  say,  must  have  trodden  the 


THE    BOOK   OF    GENESIS   AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.       169 

original  soil  upon  which  these  deposits  rest,  since 
they  exhibit  unmistakable  evidence  of  his  existence 
in  the  shape  of  rough  weapons  and  implements, 
made  by  his  hands.  Other  Geologists,  however, 
from  the  same  facts  arrive  at  a  different  conclusion./ 

These  rude  specimens  have  also  furnished  an 
argument  to  some  Geologists  for  believing  that  at 
the  time  they  were  made  man  was  roaming  wild 
over  the  earth,  and  that  it  took  tens  of  thousands  of 
years  to  lift  him  out  of  barbarism  to  the  state  of 
civilization,  represented  by  the  neat  workmanship 
exhibited  in  the  bronze  and  iron  tools  lying  in 
later  deposits  of  the  earth.  Now  if  this  were  true 
it  would  follow  that  man  was  created  in  a  savage 
state;  but  thcvcivilization  of  primitive  man  is^vTitten 
on  the  monuments  of  the  most  ancient  nations. 
That  all  barbarous  races  show  the  clearest  proofs  of 
a  civilized  origia  is  .now  .generally  admitted  by 
ethnologists,  and  -amongst  others,  by  Professor 
Max  Mliller,  who  says : — "  What  do  we  know 
^^of  savage  tribes  beyond  the  last  chapter  of 
^' their  history?  Do  we  ever  get  an  insight  into 
''  their  antecedents.?  Can  we  understand  what  after 
^^  all  is  everywhere  the  most  important  and  the  most 
^^  instructive  lesson  to  learn,  how  they  have  come  to 
^fbe  what  they  are?  ...  Their  language  proves, 
^'  indeed,  that  these  so-called  heathens  with  their 
^'  complicated  systems  of  mythology,  their  artificial 
'^  customs,  their  unintelligible  whims  and  savageries. 


170  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

"are  not  the  creatures  of  to-day  or  yesterday. 
''Unless  we  admit  a  special  creation  for  these 
"  savages,  they  must  be  as  old  as  the  Hindus,  the 
''  Greeks  and  Eomans,  as  old  as  we  ourselves  .  .  . 
''  They  may  have  passed  through  ever  so  many 
''vicissitudes,  and  what  we  consider  as  primitive 
"  may  be,  for  all  we  know,  a  relapse  into  savagery, 
"  or  a  corruption  of  something  that  was  more  rational 
"and  intelligible  in  former  stages.''  [Indla^  by  F. 
Max  Mliller,  1883.)  / 

To  contravene  the  statement  of  man's  age  as 
inferred  from  Genesis,  others  appeal  to  a  system  of 
their  own  on  the  origin  of  language.  They  argue  that 
language  was  not  a  divine  gift,  but  developed  by 
man  himseK  from  rude  beginnings  into  a  state  of 
perfection.  This  process,  they  say,  was  gradual, 
and  necessarily  so  slow  as  to  extend  far  beyond  the 
time  assigned  by  Moses  to  the  age  of  man.  Indeed, 
Bunsen  lays  it  down  that  "twenty-one  thousand 
"years  is  a  very  probable  term  for  the  development 
"  of  human  language  in  the  shortest  line"  ("Egypt's 
Place  in  Universal  History,''  Yol.  iv.,  p.  563).  But 
this  is  merely  bold  assertion,  and  upon  such  grounds 
no  one  can  reasonably  reject  the  Bible  history  of 
the  origin  of  language.  Upon  this  narrative  the 
Church  has  pronounced  no  authoritative  decision ; 
but  Catholics  hold  it  to  be  singularly  in  keeping 
with  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  the  latest  and  most 
earnest  students  of  comparative  philology.     These 


THE    BOOK   OF    GENESIS    AND   NATURAL    SCIENCE.      171 

high  authorities  declare  the  outcome  of  their  labo- 
rious researches  to  be  that  every  language  now 
spoken  in  the  world  is  lineally  descended,  in  different 
degrees  of  relationship,  from  one  of  three  parent- 
stocks.  Hence  all  the  existing  varieties  of  human 
speech,  according  to  their  likeness  either  in  words, 
or  grammatical  forms,  or  both,  are  grouped  into  the 
ShemitiCy  Aryan^  and  Turanian  families,  which, 
though  perfectly  distinct  and  independent  in  them- 
selves, yet  bear  trace  of  one  primeval  tongue.  Now, 
this  is  exactly  the-  account  given  by  Moses  of  the 
origin  of  language  (Genesis  ii.  19,  20,  and  xi.  1-8). 
According  to  this  the  language  revealed  to  Adam 
and  Eve  was  the  only  one  upon  the  earth,  until  the 
children  of  Noe,  incurred  the  divine  displeasure  by 
building  the  tower  of  BabeL  God  punished  them  by 
confounding  their  speech,  so  that  they  could  not 
understand  one  another,  a  result  which  corresponds 
exactly  with  scientific  investigation  to  the  effect  that 
the  first  language  of  the  human  race  was  broken  up 
into  three  parent-stocks  from  which  all  the  languages, 
now  spoken  in  the  world,  have  been  produced.  / 

Again  it  has  been  urged  on  chronological  grounds 
that  many  of  the  most  ancient  nations  require  for 
the  antiquity  of  their  people  a  much  longer  period 
than  the  8,000  years  intimated  by  Moses.  Thus, 
the  Egyptians,  on  the  authority  of  Manetho,  their 
great  historian,  claim  53,000  years,  or  at  least 
11,500  according  to  Herodotus.     Then  the  Babylo- 


172  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE   SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

nians  say  their  first  king  ascended  the  throne  about 
468,330  years  before  Christ;  the  Indians  demand 
a  similar  space  of  time,  and  the  Chinese  allege  the 
possession  of  documents,  proving  their  nation  to  be 
flourishing  thirty  or  forty  thousand  years  previous 
to  the  establishment  of  the  Celestial  Empire  under 
Fo-hi.  But  the  important  discoveries  of  M. 
Champollion  and  Dr.  Young  have  finally  disposed 
of  the  Egyptian  pretensions,  while  other  recent 
investigations  prove  the  assertions  of  the  Baby- 
lonians, Indians,  and  Chinese,  to  be  without  solid 
foundation.  / 

III.  The  Mosaic  Origin  of  Plants  and 
Animals  : — In  the  I2th,  21st,  and  24th  verses  of 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  stated  that : — "  The 
''  earth  brought  forth  the  green  herb,  and  such  as 
^^yieldeth  seed  according  to  its  kind,  and  the  tree  that 
'''  beareth  fruit,  having  seed  each  one  according  to  its 
"  Jcind,  And  God  created  the  great  whales,  and  every 
>*  living  and  moving  creature  which  the  waters 
^'  brought  forth  according  to  their  kinds ^  and  every 
''  winged  fowl  according  to  its  kind.  And  God 
'^  said  let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  creature  in 
"  its  Jcind^  cattle  and  creeping  things,  and  beasts  of 
^^  the  earth  after  its  kind.  And  God  saw  that  it 
"  was  good."  Here  Moses  appears  to  teach 
that  each  species  of  plants  and  animals  had  an 
independent  origin  ;  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
the   Church   has  not  declared  this  to  bo  the  true 


THE    BOOK    OF    GENESIS   AND   NATURAL    SCIENCE.      173 

meaning  of  the  inspired  text.  At  the  same  time 
Catholics  do  believe  that  each  species  of  plants  and 
animals  was  separately  created,  and  that  this  is 
the  true  sense  of  what  Moses  has  sketched  in  the 
passage  just  quoted.  / 

The  late  Mr.  Charles  Darwin  in  his  ''  Origin  of 
Species "  (1859-60),  undertakes  to  prove  by  an 
array  of  evidence,  irom  his  own  observation  of  the 
organic  world,  that  each  species  of  plant,  as  well  as 
each  species  of  animal,  was  evolved  from  one 
common  ancestor,  that  is  some  pre-existing  organ- 
ism. This  process  of  species-making  began, 
according  to  Darwin,  back  in  the  mists  of  anti- 
quity. Whether  the  first  organism  was  only  oiie, 
or  many,  and  whence  this  or  these  derived  its  or 
their  own  existence,  he  does  not  say.  This  original 
existence  he  takes  for  granted,  and  proceeds  to 
build  upon  it  as  follows^: — ^^  Can  it  be  thought 
"  improbable,  seeing  that  variations,  useful  to  man, 
^^  have  undoubtedly  occurred,. that  other  variations, 
'^useful  in  the  same  way  to  each. being  in  the  great 
"and  complex  battle  of  life,  should  sometimes  occur 
"in  the  course  of  thousands  of  generations?  If 
"  such  do  occur  can  we  doubt — remembering  that 
"  many  more  individuals  are  bom  than  can  possibly 
"  survive — that  individuals  having  any  advantage, 
"  however  slight,  over  others,  would  have  the  best 
"  chance  of  surviving  and  of  pro-creating  their  kind  ? 
"  On  the  other  hand,  we  may  feel  sure  that  any 


174  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

"  variation,  in  the  least  degree  injurious,  would  be 
'^  rigidly  destroyed.  This  preservation  of  favourable 
'S'ariations  and  the  rejection  of  unfavourable  varia- 
^'tions  I  call  Natural  Selection,  Yariations  neithir 
^^  useful  nor  injurious  would  not  be  affected  by 
^^  natural  selection,  and  would  be  left  a  fluctu- 
^'  ating  element  as,  perhaps,  we  see  in  the  species 
^^  called  polymorphic."  He  goes  on  to  show  that 
the  principle  of  natural  selection  works  best 
under  certain  influences: — ^'In  such  cases,"  he  says, 
^^  every  slight  modification,  which  in  the  course  of 
''ages  chanced  to  arise,  and  which  in  any  way 
''favoured  the  individuals  of  any  of  the  species  by 
"  better  adapting  to  their  altered  conditions  would 
"tend  to  be  preserved,  and  natural  selection  would 
"  thus  have  free  scope  for  the  work  of  improvement." 
And  as  a  result  of  this  natural  selection,  he  adds : — 
"Now  I  cannot  see  any  insuperable  difficulty  in 
"further  believing  that  the  membrane-connected 
"  fingers  and  forearm  of  the  Galeopithecus  might  be 
"  greatly  lengthened  by  natural  selection,  and  this, 
"as  far  as  the  organs  of  flight  are  concerned,  would 
"  convert  it  into  a  bat."  Darwin,  therefore,  observes 
the  rate  of  production  in  plants  and  animals  to  be 
such  that  if  the  whole  were  allowed  to  survive 
the  world  would  not  contain  them.  Thus  the  weak 
must  make  room  for  the  strong ;  and  to  determine 
this  issue  all  are  plunged  into  a  "struggle  for 
existence,"  either  in  contending  with  their  own 


THE    BOOK    OF    GENESIS    AND   NATURAL    SCIENCE.       175 

species  for  the  same  food-supply  where  there  is 
question  of  animals,  and  for  their  share  of  the  soil, 
the  rainfall,  and  the  sunshine  where  there  is  ques- 
tion of  plants.  This  combat  has  never  ceased,  and 
will  never  cease,  so  that  in  each  succeeding  genera- 
tion a  great  many  must  remain  vanquished.  These 
are  left  ^^  unimproved  or  but  little  improved,"  and 
they  soon  disappear,  leaving  the  stronger  to  procre- 
ate their  kind.  Thus  '^  the  fittest  survive,"  and  a 
change  for  the  better  is  imparted  at  every  stage, 
until  the  external  form  and  internal  structure  of  the 
original  stock  is  so  improved  after  the  lapse  of  ages 
as  to  be  quite  different  from  what  it  was  in  the 
beginning — a  new  species  in  fact.  Such  then  is  the 
theory  of  ^'!N"atural  Selection"  as  applied  by  Dar- 
win to  the  origin  of  plants  and  animals ;  but  he  has 
not  succeeded  in  producing  even  one  instance  of 
such  ^ Variation"  which  could  be  regarded  as  a 
truly  distinct  species.  Plants  and  animals  may  be 
developed  into  varieties  within  the  same  species, 
but,  as  far  as  experience  shows,  never  have  been 
improved  out  of  their  own  into  a  new  species.  / 

ly.  The  Mosaic  Origin  op  Man  : — The  creation 
of  man  is  given  in  the  book  of  Genesis  as  follows : — 
''  And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  slime  of  the 
^' earth,  and  breathed  into  his  face  the  breath  of 
^4ife,  and  man  became  a  living  soul"  (ii.  7).  As 
regards  man's  body,  the  plain  meaning  of  this  state- 
ment of  Moses  is  that  God  created  it  immediately 


176  INTRODUCTION    TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

from  "the  slime  of  the  earth,"  and  the  majority  of 
those,  who  hold  the  very  highest  place  among  the 
expounders  of  the  Christian  faith,  believe  such  to 
be  the  true  sense  of  the  inspired  passage.  No  doubt 
the  Sacred  writer  does  not  expressly  say  that  God 
converted  "  the  slime  of  the  earth  "  immediately  into 
flesh,  and  hence  there  are  persons,  who  contend  that 
God  did  not  form  the  body  of  Adam  immediately 
from  ''the  slime  of  the  earth,"  but  from  some 
animal  substance  already  existing.  This  opinion, 
no  matter  how  it  may  differ  from  that  of  the 
bulk  of  the  best  theologians,  is  not  certainly  a 
heresy,  since  the  Church  has  never  formally  declared 
what  is  the  true  meaning  of  these  words.  / 

In  reference  to  the  statement  in  Genesis  about 
the  origin  of  the  part  of  man  that  is  immortal,  it  is 
certain  that  the  rational  soul,  breathed  into  the  body 
of  Adam,  and  into  that  of  every  child  of  Adam, 
that  is  into  the  body  of  every  member  of  the  human 
race  from  the  beginning,  was  the  result  of  a  special 
creation  immediately  by  God..  This  truth,  though 
not  expressly  defined  by  the  Church,  is  so  manifestly 
contained  in  some  of  her  dogmatic  decrees,  that 
among  Catholics  the  doctrine >  cannot  be  one  of 
speculation.  Ilence,  so  far  as  the  creation  of  the 
soul  is  concerned,  Catholics  feel  themselves  bound 
to  hold  that  it  has  come  immediately  from  the  hands 
of  God.  \ 

On  this  question  of  the  origin  of  man  Darwin 


THE    BOOK    OF    GENESIS    AND    NATURAL   SCIENCE.      177 

has   expressed   certain  views  in  his   *^  Descent  of 
Man"  (1871):— 

"  Yon  Baer,"  lie  says,  '*  has  defined  advancement  or 
"  progress  in  the  original  scale  better  than  any  one  else, 
"  as  resting  on  the  amount  of  difierentiation  and  speciali- 
"  zation  of  the  several  parts  of  a  being,  when  arrived  at 
"maturity,  as  I  should  be  inclined  to  add.  Now,  as 
"  organisms  have  become  slowly  adapted  to  diversified 
"  lines  of  Kfe  by  means  of  natural  selection,  their  parts 
"  will  become  more  and  more  differentiated  and  specialised 
''  for  various  functions,  from  the  advantage  gained  by  the 
*'  division  of  physiological  labour.  The  same  part  appears 
"  often  to  have  been  modified  first  for  one  purpose, 
"and  then,  long  afterwards,  for  some  other  and  quite 
"distinct  purpose;  and  thus  all  the  parts  are  rendered 
"  more  and  more  complex.  But  each  organism  still  retains 
"the  general  type  of  structure  of  the  progenitor  from 
"  which  it  was  aboriginally  derived.  In  accordance  with 
"  this  view  it  seems,  if  we  turn  to  geological  evidence, 
"  that  organization  on  the  whole  has  advanced  throughout 
"  the  world  by  slow  and  interrupted- steps.  In  tha  great 
"  kingdom  of  the  Yertebrata  it.  has  culminated  in  man. 
"  It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  groups  of  organic 
"  beings  are  always  supplanted,  and  disappear  as  soon  as 
"  they  have  given  birth  to  other  and  more  perfect  groups. 
"  The  latter,  though  victorious  over  their  predecessors. 
"  may  not  have  become  better  adapted  for  all  places  in  the 
"  economy  of  nature.  Some  old  forms  appear  to  have  sur- 
"  vived  from  inhabiting  protected  sites,  where  they  have  not 
"been  exposed  to  very  severe  competition,  and  these  often 
"  aid  us  in  constructing  our  genealogies  by  giving  us  a  fair 
"  idea  of  former  and  lost  populations.  But  we  must  not 
"  fall  into  the  error  of  looking  at  the  existing  members 
"  of  any  lowly  organised  group  as  perfect  representatives 
"  of  their  ancient  predecessors.''/ 

"  The  most  ancient  progenitors  in  the  kingdom  of  the 
"  Yertebrata,  at  which  we  are  able  to  obtain  an  obscure 
"glance,  apparently  consisted  of  a  group  of  marine 
"  animals  representing  the  larvae  of  existing  Ascidians. 
*'  These  animals  probably  gave  rise  to  a  group  of  fishes 


178  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

"  as  lowly  organised  as  tlie  lancelet ;  and  from  these  the 
"  Ganvods,  and  other  fishes  like  the  Lepidosiren  must  have 
"  been  developed.  From  such  fish  a  very  small  advance 
**  would  carry  us  on  to  the  Amphibians.  We  have  seen 
"  that  birds  and  reptiles  were  once  intimately  connected 
"together;  and  the  Monotremata  now  connect  mammals 
"with  reptiles  in  a  slight  degree.  But  no  one  can  at 
"present  say  by  what  line  of  descent  the  three  higher 
"  and  related  classes,  namely,  mammals,  birds,  and  reptiles, 
"  were  derived  from  the  two  lower  Yertebrate  classes, 
"namely,  amphibians  and  fishes.  In  the  class  of  mammals 
"  the  steps  are  not  difficult  to  conceive  which  led  from 
"  the  ancient  Monotremata  to  the  ancient  Marsupials  ;  and 
"  from  these  to  the  early  progenitors  of  the  placental 
"  mammals.  We  may  thus  ascend  to  the  Lemuridae ;  and 
"  the  interval  is  not  very  wide  from  these  to  the  Semiadae. 
"  The  Semiadae  then  branched  off  into  two  great  stems, 
"  the  new  world  and  the  old  world  monkeys  ;  and  from 
"  the  latter,  at  a  remote  period,  man,  the  wonder  and 
"  glory  of  the  universe,  proceeded." 

And  again : — 

"  Whether  primeval  man,  when  he  possessed  but  few 
"  arts,  and  those  of  the  rudest  kind,  and  when  the  power 
"  of  language  was  extremely  imperfect,  would  have 
"  deserved  to  be  called  man,  must  depend  on  the  definition 
"  we  employ.  In  a  series  of  forms  graduating  insensibly 
"  from  some  ape-like  creature  to  man  as  he  now  exists, 
"  it  would  be  impossible  to  fix  any  definite  point  when 
"  the  term  *  man  *  ought  to  be  used.' V 

Darwin,  therefore,  maintains  that  the  internal,  as 
well  as  the  external  human  form,  rounded  to  its 
present  perfection,  is  the  result  of  an  evolution^  that 
began  perhaps,  millions  of  years  ago,  in  some  "  ape- 
like creature."  From  this  highest  type  of  ape, 
man,  according  to  Darwin,  has  been  produced  by 
slow  degrees  on  the  principle  of  "natural  selection  " 
through  "  variation,"  just  as  it  is  said  the  Chim- 


THE   BOOK   OF    GENESIS   AND   NATURAL    SCIENCE.      179 

panzee  and  Gorilla  have  been  developed  from  the 
lowest  type  of  ape.  / 

The  advocates  of  this  Darwinian  system  on  the 
origin  of  man  try  to  support  it  by  the  oldest  human 
skulls,  dug  out  of  the  cave-deposits,  which  skulls, 
they  say,  bear  a  striking  resemblance  to  those  of  apes. 
Bat  the  oldest  human  skulls  and  bones  as  yet  brought 
to  the  surface  by  Geologists  differ  from  those  of  the 
ape  as  much  as  the  skull  and  bones  of  man  now 
living,  and  the  chasm  between  these  is  wide  indeed. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  in  the  physical  constitution 
of  primitive  man,  nothing  has  been  found,  so  far, 
to  prove  either  the  transition  from  the  ape  to  the 
man,  or  the  man  to  the  ape.  Professor  Huxley 
declares  this,  and  in  these  countries  he  is  the  highest 
living  authority  on  such  matters.  ^^  Every  bone," 
he  says,  ^^  of  a  gorilla  bears  marks  by  Avhich  it  might 
''be  distinguished  from  the  corresponding  bone  of 
"a  man;  and  in  the  present  creation,  at  any  rate, 
"  no  intermediate  link  bridges  over  the  gap  between 
"Homo  and  Troglodytes.'^/ 

Original  Unity  of  the  Human  Eace  : — That 
every  man  who  came  into  the  world  since  Adam 
has  descended  from  him  is  explicitly  declared  by 
Moses  when  he  says  that  his  wife.  Eve,  "was  the 
"  mother  of  all  the  living  "  (iii.  20).  St.  Paul  puts 
the  same,  not  more  clearly  but  more  forcibly  when 
in  the  Areopagus  of  Athens  he  proclaimed : — "  And 
"  (God)  hath  made  of  one  all  mankind  to  dwell  upon 


180  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE    SACRED    SCRIPTURES. 

''  the  face  of  the  earth  "  (Acts  xvii.  26).  In  1655 
Isaac  De  la  Peyrere,  a  prominent  Calvinist,  who 
afterwards  renounced  his  errors  and  embraced  the 
Catholic  faith,  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  twelfth, 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  verses,  fifth  chapter  of  St. 
Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Eomans.  In  this  and  in  a 
special  treatise,  which  soon  followed,  he  taught  that 
before  Adam  other  races  of  men  existed  upon  the 
earth;  that  the  Jews  only  were  descended  from 
Adam,  and  the  Bible  is  exclusively  taken  up  with 
them.  The  Church  condemned  this  doctrine,  and  it 
is  since  known  as. the  Pre- Adamite  heresy.^ 

To  this  Catholic-  doctrine  some  object  on  the 
authority  of  comparative  anatomy,  physiology,  and 
philology.  They  say  that  there  is  a  radical  oi 
specific  difference  in  the  relative  size  and  form  ol 
the  human  crania,  as  well,  as  between  the  white 
and  coloured  races.  Put  universally  acknowledged 
authority,  in  this  department  of  Scientific  research, 
has  pronounced  the  differences  between  the  white 
man,  the  red  Indian  and  the  Negro,  not  only  in 
respect  to  the  peculiar  make  and  proportions  of  the 
skull,  but  the  colour  of  the  skin,  the  quality  of 
the  hair,  etc.,  to  be  derived  from  the  slow  influence 
of  food,  climate  and  other  circumstances.  That 
there  are  among  the  descendants  of  Adam  and  Eve 
many  with  yellow,  and  black  skins,  as  well  as  a 
peculiar  formation  of  head,  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  when  the  absence  of  long  years  under  the  influ- 


THE    BOOK   OF   GENESIS   AKl)   NATURAL   SCIENCE.       181 

ence  of  Indian  heat,  unwholesome  diet,  can  effect 
so  great  a  change  as  to  make  it  difficult  to  recognise 
a  once-familiar  presence ;  and  if  this  be  continued 
from  generation  to  generation  for  some  hundreds  of 
years,  the  original  complexion  will  be  quite  different 
from  what  it  was.  In  the  Yankees  of  ta-day,  for 
instance,  it  would  be  difficult  to  trace  anything  of 
the  well-shaped  head,  round  features,  and  soft 
fair  skin  of  their  pilgrim  fathers./ 

It  is  urged  that,  according  to  savans  of  high 
standing,  the  four  thousand  languages  which,  it  is 
said,  are  now  upon  the  earth,  have  nothing  absolutely 
in  common  except  the  end  at  which  they  aim.  From 
this  it  is  concluded  that  since  the  languages  of  men 
did  not  come  from  one  primitive  tongue,  men  them- 
selves have  not  descended  from  one  pair.  But  there 
has  been  so  much  said  already  to  confirm  the  Bib- 
lical truth  of  the  common  origin  of  all  existing 
languages,  that  nothing  remains  to  be  added  here. 
It  is  a  powerful  argument,  no  doubt,  for  the  original 
unity  of  the  human  race,  and  not  in  the  least  shaken 
by  the  unsupported  opinion  of  a  few.  / 

The  recent  investigations  into  the  language, 
tradition,  and  religion  of  America,  ISTorth  and  South, 
prove  that  they  are  of  Eastern  origin,  and  that 
these  lands  were  peopled  from  Asia.  How  any  of 
the  dispersed  human  race  got  to  those  countries, 
separated  by  va^t  oceans,  is  not  mentioned  in 
history ;  but  there  is  no  reason  why  their  acquaint- 


182  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

aiice  with,  ship -building  and  navigation  should  not 
bo  equal  to  ihe  task,  seeing  that  Noe's  knowledge 
in  the  same  department  was  able  to  cope  with  the 
di^cuities  of  the  jDA^^..  / 

The  Deluge  : — The  history  of  this  awful  cata- 
clysm with  wbicli  the  earth  was  visited  about  the 
year  of  the  world,  1656,  is  given  in  the  6th,  7th, 
and  8th  Chapters  of  Genesis..  The  one  great 
fact  in  this  Sacred  history,  namely,  that  God  sent 
the  Flood,  upon  the  earth  is  covered  by  inspiration, 
so  that  it  cannot  be  false.  And  yet  there  are  persons 
who  venture  to  deny  this  inspired  fact.  Dr.  Colenso,  in 
his  preface  to  ^'  The  Pentateuch,  and  Book  of  Joshua 
critically  Examined,"  speaking  of  the  Deluge,  makes 
a  sad  declaration  of  his  unbelief :—''  I  felt,"  he  says, 
^'  that  I  dared  not,  as  a  servant  of  the  God  of  truth, 
urge  my  brother-man-  to  believe  that  which  I  did 
not  myself  believe,  which  I  knew  to  be  untrue." 
In  respect,,  however,  to  the  absolute  universality 
of  the  Flood,  it  is  right  to:  point  out  that  this  is 
neither  so  perspicuously  set  forth  in  the  Mosaic 
account,  as  to.  render  it  undeniable,  nor  has  the 
Catholic  Church  infallibly  attached  to  it  this 
meaning.  About  the  year  1 675,  a  remarkable  trea- 
tise appeared  on  the  Flood  oi'Noe.:  This  work 
was  attributed  to  Isaac  Voss,  who  gave  up  his  posi- 
tion of  leader  of  the  Dutch  Calvinists  for  a  rich 
canonry  in  the  Anglican  Church.  He  held  that 
the  Deluge  was  partial,  as  well  as  local,  •  and  in 


THE    BOOK    OF    GENESIS    AND    NATURAL    SCIENCE.      183 

1686,  at  Eome,  his  book  was  put  upon  the  Index, 
but  not  condemned  as  heretical.  Therefore,  the  fact 
of  this  particular  kind  of  universality  of  the  Flood, 
namely,  that  it  covered  every  spot  upon  the  earth's 
surface,  and  drowned  every  human  being,  every 
beast,  bird  and  creeping  thing,  is  neither  necessarily 
inspired,  nor  has  the  Catholic  Church,  so  far, 
defined  it  solemnly.  At  the  same  time  it  is  Catholic 
teaching,  for  it  is  implied  in  the  statement  of  the 
inspired  writer,  and  that  every  human  being  then 
alive,  was  swallowed  up  in  the  Flood,  St.  Peter 
teaches  when  he  says : — "  In  the  days  of  Noe, 
when  the  Ark  was  a  building,  wherein  a  few,  that 
is  eight  souls,  were  saved  by  water.  Y/hereunto 
baptism  being  of  the  like  form,  now  saveth  you 
also"  (1st  Epistle  of  St.  Peter,  iii.  20,  22).  / 

Most  Sceptics  take  exception,  not  to  the  fact  of 
the  Deluge ;  but  to  its  universality.  It  was,  they  say, 
of  a  limited  character,  because,  1°,  neither  was  there 
water  enough  in  existence  to  submerge  all  the  low 
lands  on  the  globe,  and  to  rise  fifteen  cubits  above 
the  peaks  of  the  highest  mountains ;  nor  was  there 
room  enough  for  all  the  beasts,  birds,  and  other 
creatures,  represented  to  have  been  stowed  away  in 
the  ark.  But,  in  this  stupendous  display  of  God's 
power,  must  His  avenging  arm  be  shortened  to  meet 
what  is  regarded,  by  some  only,  as  too  small  a  space 
and  too  limited  a  supply  of  water  ?  2°.  It  is  asserted 
to  be  on  record  that  immense  populations,  flourished 


184  INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   SACRED   SCRIPTURES. 

in  Egypt,  China,  India,  etc.,  abont  two  hundred 
years  after  the  date  of  this  alleged  overwhelming 
act  of  God's  anger .  To  account  for  this  appears 
impossible  to  Sceptical  minds,  if  every  man,  woman 
and  child,  in  the  world  at  the  time,  were  swept 
away  by  the  Flood.  But  did  not  God  give  a  special 
blessing  of  fecundity  to  ^N'oe  and  his  family  ?  On 
their  leaving  the  Ark  he  told  them  to  : — ''  Increase 
and  multiply,  and  fill  the  earth ;  let  the  fear  and 
dread  of  you  be  upon  all  the  beasts  of  the 
earth,  and  upon  all  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  all 
that  move  upon  the  earth "  (Genesis  ix.  1,  2). 
Therefore  by  the  peculiar  arrangement  of  Divine 
Providence,  Noe  and  his  children  were  to  multi- 
ply with  a  rapidity  truly  miraculous,  and  the 
animal  kingdom  was  to  extend  accordingly.  Is  it 
not  also  a  well-ascertained  fact  that  unmistakable 
traces  of  a  Deluge,  such  as  Moses  describes,  are 
engraved  in  indelible  lines  on  the  face  of  thoeaith? 
The  late  Cardinal  Wiseman,  in  his  sixth  lecture  on 
"  Science  and  Eevealed  Eeligion,"  has  proved  this  by 
an  abundance  of  the  most  reliable  Geological  testi- 
mony. / 


PART   II. 


SPECIAL    INTRODUCTION, 


THE    OLD    TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 


-^ 


CHAPTEE  I. 

THE    PENTATEUCH. 
Genesis — Exodus — Leviticus — ^Numbers — Deuteronomy. 

/ Genesis: — The  opening  Book  of  the  Pentateuch 
derives  its  Greek  name  from  the  subject  of  which 
it  treats.  This  is  the  creation  (yevco-ts)  of  the  world, 
and  with  it  the  history  of  man  till  the  death  of 
Joseph  in  Egypt.  Into  this  narrative,  extending 
over  a  period  of  2,369  years,  is  woven  an  account 
of  all  that  God  did  to  keep  alive  in  the  hearts  of 
men  the  revelation  He  communicated  to  Adam  and 
the  Patriarchs.  / 

Exodus  is  a  most  suggestive  title  for  the 
Second  Book  of  the  Pentateuch,  since  it  is 
chiefly  devoted  to  the  departure  of  the  Israelites 
from  Egypt,  about  143  years  after  the  death  of 
Joseph  in  that  country.  Its  opening  chapter  is 
occupied  with  a  detailed  description  of  the  heavy 
burden  laid  by  their  Egyptian  taskmasters  upon 


f 

188  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 


the  Hebrews,  in  order  to  break  down  their  spirit 
and  diminish  their  number.  Then  follows  an 
account  of  the  birth  of  Moses,  his  education,  and 
the  events  of  his  early  life,  marked  by  his  fearless 
sympathy  with  his  oppressed  countrymen,  whom,  in 
the  wonderful  Providence  of  God,  he  Avas  raised  up 
to  deliver.  This  relief  came  when  they  had  been  in 
Egypt  215  years,  for  St.  Paul  says  (Gal.  iii.  17), 
that  the  solemn  promulgation  of  the  law  happened 
480  years  after  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  which 
took  place  about  215  years  before  Jacob  and  his 
sons  went  down  into  Egypt,  so  that  the  Israelites 
could  have  been  in  Egypt  only  215  years.  At  the 
end  of  this  period  Moses  and  Aaron  appeared  for 
the  last  time  before  the  Egyptian  monarch  with  the 
Divine  command  to  let  *'  the  children  of  Israel  go 
out  of  his  land."  But  Pharao  again  stubbornly 
refused,  for  "  his  heart  was  hardened,''  and  God 
sent  the  tenth  plague  with  all  its  terrible  conse- 
quences. This  awful  calamity  came  at  midnight, 
when  the  destroying  angel  went  forth  and  ^'slew 
every  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  from  the 
first-bom  of  Pharao,  who  sat  on  his  throne,  unto  the 
first-boi*n  of  the  captive  woman  that  was  in  prison, 
and  all  the  first-born  of  cattle  ^'  (Exodus  xii.  29). 
The  groans  of  the  dying  in  dead  of  night  filled  the 
living  with  horror  and  confusion  : — "  And  Pharao 
*^  arose  in  the  night,  and  all  his  servants,  and  all 
"  Egypt ;  and  there  arose  a  great  cry  in  Egypt,  for 


THK    PENTATEUCH.  189 


^^  there  was  not  a  house  wherein  there  lay  not 
^^  one  dead.  And  Pharao  calling  Moses  and  Aaron 
'^  in  the  night  said :  Arise,  and  go  forth  from 
''  among  my  people,  you  and  the  children  of  Israel  " 
(Exodus  xii.  30,  31).  Accordingly  the  children  of 
Israel  went  out  from  bondage,  600,000  "men  on 
foot  "  with  Moses  at  their  head.  If  the  number  of 
*' men  on  foot,"  that  is  men  fit  to  bear  arms,  be 
multiplied  by  four  (for  their  proportion  is  about 
one-fourth  cf  th3  population),  the  total  of  eman- 
cipated Israelites  must  have  been  about  two  millions 
and  a-half.  This  is  an  enormous  increase  upon  the 
three  score  and  ten  souls  who  went  do '.yn  into  Egypt 
only  215  years  before.  To  prevent  His  people  from 
straying  in  the  wilderness  God  placed  before  them 
a  miraculous  column  of  cloud,  which  at  night  became 
a  pillar  of  fire  to  light  up  their  encampment.  After 
a  few  days'  journey  they  found  themselves  in  a 
narrow  defile,  opening  out  upon  the  shore  of  the 
Eed  Sea.  Here  they  were  overtaken  by  the 
Egyptians,  who  had  repented  having  allowed  them 
to  depart,  and  coming  up  in  pursuit,  closed  the 
ravine  from  behind,  thus  rendering  all  escape, 
humanly  speaking,  impossible.  The  Israelites 
trembled  at  the  sight  of  their  old  oppressors,  but 
Moses  calmed  their  fears  by  telling  them  to  trust 
in  God,  who  would  surely  protect  them.  Accord- 
ingly that  very  night,  the  Lord  directed  them  to 
march  forward  to  the  sea,  when  Moses  waved  his 


190  THE    OLD    TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

rod  over  the  deep,  and  instantly  the  waters  divided, 
leaving  a  dry  road  all  the  way  across  to  the  oppo- 
site shore.  Then  the  pillar  of  fire  shifted  from 
front  to  rere,  and  guided  the  fugitives  over,  while 
it  effectually  concealed  their  movements  from  the 
enemy.  But  as  soon  as  the  Israelites  were  found  to 
have  advanced  the  Egyptians  followed,  quite  unpre- 
pared for  the  terrible  reality  of  being  actually  on  the 
bed  of  the  sea.  The  break  of  day,  however,  revealed 
their  situation.  They  saw  the  Israelites  all  safely 
landed  on  the  opposite  shore,  and  themselves  pass- 
ing between  two  swelling  bodies  of  water,  which 
threatened  to  fall  and  swallow  them.  In  their  terror 
they  cried  out,  ^^Let  us  flee  from  the  face  of  Israel,  for 
Jehovah  fighteth  for  them  against  the  Egyptians." 
Just  then  Moses  "^^  stretched  forth  his  hand  over  the 
sea,"  and  the  heaped-up  flood  rolled  down,  burying 
in  its  depths  the  whole  Egyptian  army.  From  this 
point  the  Israelites  journeyed  through  the  wilder- 
ness for  about  a  month,  when  their  provisions 
ran  out.  But  God  rained  do^^Ti  manna  from 
heaven,  which,  when  ground  like  corn,  and  made 
into  cakes,  became  to  them  ^^a  staff  of  life"  during 
their  protracted  wandering.  Thus  they  were 
enabled  to  reach  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai,  and 
here  commenced  the  forming  of  this  chosen  people 
into  a  holy  nation,  for  which  all  the  great  events 
just  recorded  were  a  preparation.  On  the  morning 
of  the  50th  day  after  the  Israelites    left   Egypt, 


THE    PENTATEUCH.  191 


when  they  were,  by  God's  orders,  drawn  up  outside 
their  camp,  the  mountain  began  to  quake  with 
thunder,  lightning  flashing  around,  and  high  above 
all  could  be  heard  the  blast  of  a  trumpet,  so  loud  as 
to  make  the  hearers  tremble  with  fear.  From  out 
the  thick  darkness,  in  which  the  summit  of  Mount 
Sinai  was  enveloped,  a  voice  announced  the  Ten 
Commandments,  God  also,  for  the  guidance  of  His 
people,  dictated  to  Moses  a  regulated  series  of  laws, 
designed  to  secure  the  purpose  for  which  they  were 
set  apart,  viz.,  the  preservation  and  transmission  of 
the  true  religion.  That  there  is  but  one  God  was 
made  the  fundamental  law  of  this  code,  and  as 
He  was  also  their  temporal  king,  idolatry  became 
high  treason.  In  this  way  the  religion  of  the 
Jews  was  so  welded  into  their  civil  constitution, 
that  any  violation  of  the  one  was  an  infringement 
on  the  precepts  of  the  other.  This  was  the  period  of 
theocracy^  when  God  Himself  immediately  enacted 
the  civil  and  religious  laws,  and  by  them  governed 
His  people.  Here  too  God  enjoined  an  elaborate 
ceremonial  with  symbolical  appendages.  The 
tribe  of  Levi  was  set  apart  for  the  sacred 
ministry,  and  a  portable  temple  or  tabernacle  was 
constructed  according  to  a  plan  given  to  Moses  on 
the  mountain.  All  these  important  events  make 
up  the  subject  of  the  Eook  oi  Exodus,/ 

Leviticus: — This  name  of  the   Third  Book   of 
the   Pentateuch,  had  its  origin  in  the  ordinances 


192  TIIK    OLD   TESTAMF.\T   BOOKS. 

relating  to  the  Levites,  to  which  it  is  chiefly 
devoted.  The  sacrifices  to  be  offered  were  either 
bloody,  and  a  figure  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Christ  upon 
the  Cross,  or  unbloody,  and  were  a  type  of  the 
Sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  The  religious  feasts  of  the 
Jews  were  the  Pasch,  in  memory  of  their  deliver- 
ance from  Egypt,  and  the  Pentecost,  seven  weeks 
after  the  Pasch,  to  celebrate  the  promulgation  of 
the  law  on  Mount  Sinai.  There  was  also  the  annual 
feast  of  Tabernacles,  to  commemorate  their  long 
wandering  in  the  desert,  and  the  feast  of  Expiation, 
when  the  Priests  offered  sacrifice  for  their  own 
sins,  and  the  sins  of  the  people.  At  the  head  of 
the  ministry,  charged  with  this  public  worship  came 
the  High  Priest,  Aaron,  being  the  first  to  fill  this 
office.  His  sons  were  the  first  priests,  and  the 
Levites  took  care  of.  the  tabernacle  as  well  as  the 
sacred  vessels,  etc.  / 

Numbers  : — Before  leaving  Mount  Sinai,  Moses 
had  a  census  taken  of  the  adult  male  population 
under  his  command,  and  the  total  was  625,850, 
exclusive  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  It  was  now  the 
beginning  of  the  second  year  after  the  Exodus,  and 
the  people  of  God  were  approaching  the  promised 
land,  when  the  report  of  ten  of  the  twelve 
commissioners,  sent  to  reconnoitre  the  condition 
of  affairs,  created  a  panic.  Caleb  and  Josue, 
two  members  of  the  party,  represented  the 
situation  on  the  contrary  as  encouraging.     Their 


THE    PENTATEUCH.  193 


assurances,  howeyer,  did  not  satisfy  this  ungrateful 
race,  who  distrusted  the  Lord,  and  rebelled  against 
Him.  God  declared  He  would  destroy  them  off  the 
face  of  the  earth  ;  but  at  the  prayer  of  Moses,  He 
commuted  the  dread  sentence  into  one  of  forty  years 
sojourn  in  the  wilderness.  Josue  and  Caleb  were 
the  only  two  who  survived  to  enter  the  promised 
land.  At  the  expiration  of  this  term  Moses  ordered 
a  second  census  of  the  men  of  twenty  years  and 
upwards.  They  numbered  625,030,  so  that  the 
census  of  the  forty  years  before,  showed  an  excess 
over  the  present  of  only  820.  By  adding  the 
number  of  adult  females,  which  is  about  the  same 
as  that  of  males,  and  doubling  the  result  to  include 
in  a  population  the  proportion  of  those  under  twenty 
years,  Abraham's  descendants  were  found  to  have 
already  reached^  2,400,000..  The  history  of  these 
two  census  gives  the  name  of  Numbers  to  this  book, 
which  also  contains^  the  history  of  some  other  re- 
markable events  that  occurred,  during  its  interval  of 
39  years.  / 

Deuteronomy  : — This  Greek  term,  which  means 
literally  the  second  law,  was  given  to  the  fifth 
Eook  of  the  Pentateuch,  because  it  is  to  some  extent 
a  repetition  of  what  is  contained  in  Leviticus,  Isum- 
bers  and  Exodus.  In  it  Moses,  finding  his  end 
near,  delivered  a  farewell  address,  in  which  he  goes 
over  again  all  the  most  prominent  enactments  in 
the  Divine  legislation,  and  concludes  with  a  strong 

N 


194  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

exhortation  to  fulfil  these  laws  to  the  letter,  since 
npon  this  faithful  observance  would  depend  God's 
special  care  for  them.  Moses  then  [having  installed 
Josue  as  his  successor,  prophesied  the  future  dis- 
obedience of  his  fickle  countrymen,  their  repentance 
and  pardon,  then,  ascending  Mount  Nebo,  to  take  a 
view  of  the  ^^  Land  of  Promise,"  he  died  at  the 
age  of  120,  "and,"  says  the  Scripture,  "the  Lord 
"  buried  him  in  the  valley  of  the  land  of  Moab, 
''  over  against  Phogor,  and  no  man  hath  known  of 
"  his  sepulchre  until  this  present  day."  (Deutero- 
nomy xxxiv.  6).  / 


CHAPTEE  II. 

HISTORICAL  BOOKS  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 

Josue — Judges — Euth — The  four  Books  of  Kings— First  and 
Second  Paralipomenon — First  and  Second  Books  of  Esdras — Tobias 
— Judith — Esther — Job —  First  and  Second  Books  of  Machabees. 

/ 

The  Historical  Books  of  the  Old  Testament 
cover  a  space  of  1,017  years,  and  are  17  in  number, 
viz. : — Josue,  Judges,  Euth,  four  Books  of  Kings, 
two  of  ParalipomenoUj  two  of  Esdras,  Tobias, 
Judith,  Esther,  Job,  and  two  of  Machabees.  They 
give  the  history  of  the  Israelites  fron  the  death  of 
Moses  to  the  time  when  Esdras  brought  back  the 
Jews  from  the  captivity  of  Babylon  to  revive  the 
worship  of  God  in  the  new  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 
The  writer  of  two  only  (the  first  and  second  of 
Esdras)  is  known  by  tradition^  but  the  authorship 
of  the  remaining  fifteen  is  uncertain.  / 

Josue  : — This  book,  except  the  last  five  verses, 
which  may  have  been  supplied  by  Samuel,  was  pro- 
bably written  by  Josue  himseK  after  leading  the 
Israelites  into  Chanaan,  where  he  died  about  1448 
B.C.  It  relates  the  history  of  the  25  years  between 
1451  and  1426  B.C.,  during  which  Chanaan  was 
conquered  and   occupied  by  the  Israelites   under 


196  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 


Josue.  In  the  third  and  fourth  chapters  is  de- 
scribed the  miracle  of  a  dry  passage  having  been 
opened  in  the  Jordan  for  the  Israelites,  and  in  the 
sixth  chapter  is  told  how  the  strongly  fortified  city 
of  Jericho,  the  first  to  offer  resistance,  was  con- 
quered by  a  stupendous  display  of  the  Divine  power. 
In  the  tenth  chapter  a  similar  manifestation  is 
related,  when  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Josue, 
the  daylight  was  protracted  for  twelve  or  four- 
teen hours  to  give  time  to  complete  the  victory 
over  the  combined  forces  of  the  five  Kings  who  ven- 
tured to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  Israelitic  host. 
*^Move  not,  0  sun,  toward  Gabaon,  nor  thou,  0  moon, 
*^  toward  the  valley  of  Ajalon.  And  the  sun  and 
"  the  moon  stood  still,  tiU  the  people  revenged  them- 
'' selves  of  their  enemies"  ( Josue  x.  12-13).  | 

Judges  i — The  history  of.  the  people  of  Israel  for 
long  after  the  death  of  Josue  is  but  a  record  of  their 
scandalous  relapses  into  the  abominations  of  idol- 
worship.  Eor  these  sins  of  high  treason  against 
their  heavenly  King  they  fell,  under  the  lash  of  the 
neighbouring  tyrants.  J3roken  by  extreme  suffering 
they,  from  the  depths  of  bleeding  hearts  sought 
mercy,  and,  on  each,  occasion,.  God  raised  up  a  Judge^ 
i.e,,  a  leader,  who. rescued  them,  by  supernatural  aid, 
from  the  calamitous  consequences  of  their  intimate 
and  forbidden  relations  with  the  idolatrous  nations 
around.  \ 

These  Judges  were  thirteen  in  number,  and  the 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS   OF   THE    OLD   TESTAMENT.  197 

wonders  they  performed,  though  not  following  in 
regular  succession,  are  described,  and  occupy  a 
period  of  not  less  than  350  years.  Some  think  that 
this,  like  most  Old  Testament  books,  was  compiled 
from  a  register  of  events  deposited  in  the  Taber- 
nacle and  kept  by  the  Scribes,  who  became  an 
institution  among  the  Jews  after  the  establishment 
of  the  theocracy.  These  official  records  were  put 
into  book-form  in  the  present  instance,  they  say, 
most  probably  by  Samuel,  because  the  writer  often 
refers  to  the  time  when : — "  There  was  no  king  in 
Israel;"  and,  therefore,  he  must  have  lived,  as 
Samuel  did,  under  the  Jewish  monarchy.  / 

The  book  was  written,  doubtless,  to  show  that 
the  Israelites  prospered  so  long  as  they  were 
faithful  to  the  Divine  commands.  When,  however, 
they  began  to  intermarry  with  the  Chanaanites 
and  to  join  in  their  idolatrous  practices,  God 
allowed  them  to  be  vanquished  and  opppressed. 
Accordingly,  when  the  iron  heel  of  the  Philistines 
pressed  most  heavily  on  the  Israelites,  Samson  was 
promised  by  Heaven  to  the  prayers  of  his  parents  as 
a  "IS'azarite  of  God  from  his  mother's  womb,"  that 
is,  one  consecrated,  like  Samuel  and  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  by  a  perpetual  vow  neither  to  drink  wine, 
cut  the  hair,  nor  touch  the  dead.  Samson  in  due 
time  was  appointed  Jud^e  to  break  the  Philistine 
yoke.  Por  this  task  God  gave  him  incredible  mus- 
cular strength,  with  an  express  intimation  that  his 


198  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

prowess  entirely  depended  on  the  faithful  perform- 
ance of  his  vow.  In  the  display  of  his  supernatural 
might  he  tore  a  lion  limb  from  limb,  slew  1,000 
men  of  the  brave>  Philistines  with  the  jaw-bone  of 
an  ass,  and  carried!  ofE  the  ponderous  gates  of  Gaza, 
a  strong  town  of  that  nation..  At  last  the  secret  of 
his  strength  was^  wrested  from  him  by  Dalila,  ^'  a 
woman  who  dwelt  ia  the  valley  of  Sorec."  She 
treacherously  revealed  it  to?  the  Philistines,  and 
having  shaved  his  head  while  asleep,  handed  him 
over  in  a  helpless  condition  to  them.  They  put  out 
his  eyes  and  flung  him  into  a  prison  where  he  re- 
pented, and  when  his  hair  grew  again  he  received 
back  his  strength.  / 

It  was  arranged  to  exhibit  him  in  a  great  show  to 
be  given  to  the  Philistine  nobility  in  the  temple  of 
Dagon,  in  honour  of  this  favourite  idol.  On  Sam- 
son being  led  in  he  asked  to  be  allowed  to  rest  him- 
self for  a  moment,  when  the  spirit  of  God  coming 
upon  him  he  wrenched  the  two  great  supports  of  the 
temple  from  their  sockets  and  buried  himself 
with  3,000  others  in  the  ruins.  St.  Paul  proposes 
Samson  as  a  model  of  those  who  died  in  defence  of 
the  faith,  and,  indeed,  all  his  feats  of  prodigious 
strength  were  done  by  the  Divine  will  to  enable  him 
to  fulfil  his  mission  of  setting  the  people  of  God 
free.  \ 

Book  of  Kuth  : — This  is  an  appendix  to  the 
Book  of  Judges,  and,  at  the  same  time,  an  introdue- 


HISTORICAL   BOOKS    OF   THE    OLD   TESTAMENT.  199 

tion  to  the  Books  of  Kings.  It  gives  the  beautiful 
story  of  Euth,  a  Moabitess,  who  fervently  embraced 
the  religion  of  an  Israelite,  whom  she  married  in 
the  land  of  Moab.  The  pious  Euth,  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  went  to  Bethlehem,  where  she 
supported  her  destitute  mother-in-law  by  "  gleaning 
the  ears  of  corn"  that  escaped  the  hands  of  the 
reapers  in  the  fields  of  Booz,  a  rich  man  of  the  tribe 
of  Juda.  Her  virtues  soon  attracted  the  notice  of 
Booz,  who  made  her  his  wife.  They  had  a  son, 
Obed,  who  was  the  grandfather  of  David.  Samuel 
is  supposed  to  have  written  this  episode  in  order  to 
show  the  descent  of  David  from  the  line  of  Juda, 
and  thus  trace  the  genealogy  of  the  Messias,  who 
was  to  come  from  that  royal  tribe,  according  to  the 
prophecy  of  Jacob.  / 

The  Four  Books  of  Kings  : — About  1091  B.C., 
Samuel,  the  last  of  the  Judges,  being  now  too  old 
for  the  weighty  cares  of  office,  transferred  them  to 
his  sons;  but  they  *' turned  aside  after  lucre,  and 
took  bribes  and  perverted  judgment"  (1  Kings 
viii.  3).  Their  infamous  conduct,  and  the  mena- 
cing attitude  of  the  Ammonites,  made  the  anxious 
Israelites  importune  Samuel  to  give  them  a  monarch. 
The  holy  man,  to  dissuade  them,  pointed  to  the 
tyranny  of  the  surrounding  autocrats,  and  asked 
why  did  they  seek  a  change  which,  for  all  they 
knew,  might  degenerate,  like  those  neighbouring 
systems,  into  the  worst  despotism  ?    But  they  were 


200  THE    OLD    TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

deaf  to  his  appeal  and  insisted  on  the  appointment 
of  a  king  over  them.  Saul  was  accordingly  selected, 
and  appointed  by  Samuel  as  King.  Jews  and  Pro- 
testants call  the  first  two  Books  of  Kings  "1st  and 
2nd  of  Samuel,"  and  no  doubt  Samuel  is  the  author  of 
twenty -four  chapters  of  the  first  book ;  but  as  his 
death  is  announced  in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter,  he 
cannot  be  regarded  as  the  writer  of  the  second  book. 
The  material  for  the  remainder  of  the  first  book, 
as  well  as  the  whole  of  the  second,  third  and  fourth 
books,  was  no  doubt,  taken  from  the  ofiicial  records 
already  described,  and  arranged,  probably,  either  by 
Jeremias,  Ezechiel  or  Esdras.  In  the  first  book  there 
is  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Heli,  the  High  Priest,  fol- 
lowed by  an  account  of  the  virtues  of  Samuel,  of  the 
appointment  of  Saul,  as  well  as  the  career  of  David 
and  Jonathan.  The  second  book  is  a  history  of 
King  David's  reign,  and  in  the  third  it  is  told  how 
this  monarch,  about  1015  jb.c,  on  the  eve  of  his 
death,  summoned  an  assembly  of  the  nation,  and 
announced  to  them  that  the  succession  to  his  throne 
belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Juda,  and  named  his  son, 
Solomon,  as  his  heir.  Then,  after  exhorting  Solomon 
to  build  the  Temple  for  which  the  materials  were 
already  prepared,  he  breathed  his  last.  Fidelity  to 
God  was  the  special  feature  in  the  character  of  this 
great  monarch,  and  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  his 
sins  of  adultery  and  murder  were  entirely  effaced  by 
an  humble  confession  and  sincere  repentance.  / 


HISTORICAL    POORS   OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT.  201 

.  The  reign  of  David's  son  Solomon,  is  the  most 
splendid  period  of  Hebrew  history.  His  kingdom  was 
considerable,  extending  from  the  Euphrates  to  the 
Mediterranean,  and  from  Phoenicia  to  the  Eed  Sea. 
His  devotedness  to  the  true  faith  was  so  acceptable 
that  on  one  occasion  God  promised  to  grant  what- 
ever he  would  ask.  The  Holy  Scripture  tells  us 
that  his  demand  was  for  ''  an  understanding  heart 
^'  to  judge  Thy  people,  and  discern  between  good  and 
^'  evil,  for  who  shall  be  able  to  judge  this  Thy  people 
'^  which  is  so  numerous"  (3  Kings  iii.  9).  God  was 
so  pleased  with  this  request  that  He  endowed  Solo- 
mon with  a  degree  of  wisdom  such  as  no  man 
possessed.  In  the  height  of  great  national  peace 
and  prosperity  Solomon  began  the  building  of 
the  Temple.  In  this  work  he  was  assisted  by 
Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  who  lordered  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon  to  be  felled  and  sent  to  Jerusalem,  whither 
he  also  despatched  skilled  workers  in  gold,  silver, 
jewels,  and  the  dyeing  of  precious  stuffs.  The  plan 
of  the  tabernacle  was  folloAved  exactly  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  Temple,  and  over  seven  years  were 
expended  upon  the  work.  It  measured  'Hhree  score 
cubits  in  length,  and  twenty  cubits  in  breadth,  and 
thirty  cubits  in  height."  Its  proportions  were  grace- 
fully broken  on  the  outside  by  porticoes  and  courts, 
while  the  walls  and  roofs  of  the  interior,  which 
was  divided  into  ^'the  Holy  of  Holies,"  and  an 
outer  Sanctuary,    were    of    cedar :—"  haying   the 


202  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

"turnings  and  the  joints  thereof  artfully  wrought, 
'^  and  carvings  projecting  out.  And  there  was 
"  nothing  in  the  Temple  that  was  not  covered  with 
"gold"  (3  Kings  vi.  18  and  22).  When  this 
"House  of  the  Lord"  was  completed,  the  glory  of 
God  filled  it,  and  the  ark  with  the  stone-tables  of 
the  law  were  deposited  within  its  sanctuary.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  the  Queen  of  Saba,  attracted 
by  the  fame  of  Solomon,  came  to  Jerusalem 
to  "try  him  with  hard  questions."  His  answers 
made  her  exclaim,  "  Blessed  are  thy  men,  and 
"blessed  are  thy  servants  who  stand  before  thee 
"  always  and  hear  thy  wisdom  "  (3  Kings  x.  8). 
But  "  the  understanding  heart "  of  this  wise  and 
gentle  monarch  was  soon  turned  away  by  his 
idolatrous  wives,  whom  he  indulged  in  the  practice 
of  their  rites  of  polytheisai.  They  gradually  gained 
him  over  to  their  false  divinities,  and  in  punishment 
for  this  God  declared  that  He  would  "  divide  and 
rend  "  his  kingdom.  This  sentence  was  conveyed 
by  the  prophet  Ahias,  the  Silonite,  to  Jeroboam,  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  with 
the  assurance  that  he  would  be  kiug  of  ten 
tribes,  leaving  two  only  to  the  royal  line  of  David. 
This  threatened  disruption  of  the  kingdom,  however, 
did  not  take  place  until  after  the  death  of  Solomou, 
as  God  had  declared  by  the  mouth  of  the  prophet.  / 
Eevolt  of  the  Ten  Tribes  : — Eoboam  succeeded 
Solomon,  and  to  meet  the  debts  contracted  in  his 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS   OF   THE    OLD   TESTAMENT.         203 

father's  reign  lie  imposed  a  grinding  tax  upon  the 
whole  nation.  The  elders  of  the  people  petitioned 
for  a  remission,  but  their  prayer  was  rejected  by  the 
young  king,  who  threatened  them  with  even  greater 
severity,  saying :  "  My  father  put  a  heavy  yoke 
"upon  you,  but  T  will  add  to  your  yoke ;  my  father 
"  beat  you  with  whips,  but  I  will  beat  you  with 
"scorpions"  (3  Kings  xii.  11).  The  moment  had 
now  arrived  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  sen- 
tence, and  ten  tribes  revolted  with  Jeroboam  for  their 
king.  They  retired  to  Samaria  and  made  that  the 
centre  of  the  new  Kingdom  of  Israel,  The  two  tribes 
that  remained  loyal  to  Eoboam  were  Juda  and  Ben- 
jamin, and  they  constituted  the  Kingdom  of  Juda.  / 
Captivities: — About  971  b.c.  began  the  rapid 
decline  of  the  two  kingdoms  into  which  the  chosen 
people  were  now  divided.  This  was  due  to  the  con- 
duct of  depraved  Sovereigns,  who  not  only  fell  into 
idolatrous  practices  themselves,  but  encouraged  idol- 
worship  among  their  subjects.  Prophets  were  sent 
by  God  at  various  periods  to  remind  them  of  their 
duty,  but  their  warnings  were  for  the  most  part 
unheeded  by  the  misguided  and  perverse  people. 
In  punishment  of  this  grievous  sin,  calamity  suc- 
ceeded calamity  until  it  ended  in  the  overthrow  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Israel  by  Salman  asar,  the  Assyrian 
monarch,  about  722  B.C.,  and  of  the  Kingdom  of  Juda 
in  606  B.C.  by  Nabuchodonosor,  King  of  Babylon. 
Sedecias,  the  last  of  the  kings  of  Juda,  disregarding 


204  THE    OLD    TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

the  advice  of  Jeremias  tlie  prophet,  was  taken  before 
Nabuchodonosor,  his  eyes  put  out,  his  sons  slain, 
aod  he  himself  sent  in  chains  to  Babylon.  Jerusa- 
lem was  burned  down  and  its  unhappy  people  carried 
into  captivity.  The  exiles,  who  were  principally 
of  the  royal  tribe,  after  seventy  years,  were 
permitted  to  return  and  rebuild  the  Temple,  and 
thus  Jacob's  memorable  prophecy  of  the  sceptre  being 
retained  in  the  tribe  of  Juda  till  the  coming  of  the 
Messias  was  fulfilled  to  the  letter. 

Paralipomenon  (1st  and  2nd),  is  a  Greek 
word  for  things  omitted,  and  has  been  applied  to 
these  books  because  they  contain  many  particulars 
which  did  not  find  room  in  the  books  of  Kings. 
They  are  also  called  the  books  of  Chronicles,  and  are 
supposed  to  have  been  compiled  by  Esdras  from 
the  public  records.  ( 

First  and  Second  Eooks  of  Esdras  : — In  the 
first  of  these  books  it  is  related  that  Esdras  or  Ezra, 
''  the  prince  of  the  Synagogue,"  revised  the  Book  of 
the  Law  and  took  care  that  its  provisions  should  be 
observed.  Mention  is  also  made  of  King  Cyrus 
breaking  up  the  Babylonish  captivity,  by  permitting 
the  expatriated  Jews  to  return  to  Jerusalem  and  re- 
build their  Temple.  This  edict  of  Cyrus  was  not, 
however,  acted  upon  until  458  B.C.  in  the  reign  of 
Assuerus,  when  Esdras  led  the  emancipated  Jews 
back  to  the  land  from  which  they  had  been  exiled. 
!Nehemias  succeeded  to  Ezra,  and  how  he  expounded 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS   OF   THE    OLD    TESTAMENT.  205 

as  well  as  enforced  the  law  is  told  in  the  Second 
Book  of  Esdras  by  JSTehemias  himself.  / 

Tobias  : — Amongst  the  captive  Israelites  whom 
Salmanasar,  King  of  Ninive,  carried  off  from  Sa- 
maria to  Ninive  in  721  b.o.  was  a  member  of  the 
tribe  of  I^epthali.  This  was  Tobias,  a  good  man 
who  was  remarkable  for  his  conscientious  observance 
of  the  laws  of  God.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  never 
bent  the  knee  to  the  golden  calf,  set  np  in  Samaria, 
but  reserved  his  adoration  for  "the  Lord  God  of 
Israel "  (Tobias  i.  6).  He  taught  his  son,  the  young 
Tobias,  "  to  fear  God  and  abstain  from  all  sin " 
(Tobias  i.  10).  While  a  captive  in  Mnive  the 
elder  Tobias  was  constantly  going  amongst  his 
afflicted  countrymen  : — '^  Feeding  the  hungry, 
"giving  clothes  to  the  naked,  burying  the  dead, 
"and  those  that  were  slain"  (Tobias  i.  20).  On 
one  occasion,  when  he  entertained  some  friends,  it 
was  announced  that  an  Israelite  had  been  murdered 
in  the  street.  Tobias  leaped  from  the  table  and 
carried  the  body  to  his  own  house,  in  order  to  bury 
it  privately  after  sunset..  This  was  against  the  law; 
still  "he  feared  God  more  than  the  king"  (Tobias 
ii.  9).  It  is  related  that  subsequently  he  lost  his 
sight,  but  in  this  severe  trial  he  gave  splendid  proof 
of  resignation  and  patience.  At  last,  when  his  span 
of  life  was  about  to  close,  he  called  the  young  Tobias 
and  directed  him  to  set  out  for  the  distant  city  of 
Eages  and  ask  oue  Gabelus  there  for  the  ten  talents 


206  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

lie  owed  him.  The  son,  not  knowing  the  way, 
sought,  with  the  father's  approval,  some  faithful 
guide.  The  Archangel  Gabriel,  under  the  appear- 
ance of  a  young  man,  presented  himself  and  was 
accepted.  He  not  only  conducted  his  charge  suc- 
cessfully to  and  from  Eages,  but  procured  him  a 
devoted  wife  and  supplied  the  means  of  curing  his 
father.  Both  the  elder  and  younger  Tobias  in  their 
gratitude  offered  a  substantial  remuneration,  but 
this  was  declined  and  the  Archangel  disappeared. 

This  book,  which  abounds  in  moral  instructions, 
would  appear  to  be  the  work  of  both  father  and  son, 
because  the  Archangel  told  them,  "  It  is  time  there- 
*' fore  that  I  return  to  Him  that  sent  me;  but  bless 
*'ye  God,  and  publish  all  His  wonderful  works" 
(Tobias  xii.  20),  In  this  (twelfth)  chapter  there  is 
also  an  account  of  the  death  of  the  elder  Tobias,  evi- 
dently written  by  the  son,  while  from  the  1 6th  verse 
of  the  same  chapter  to  the  end,  the  death  of  young 
Tobias  is  described.  It  is  not  known  by  whom  this 
portion  has  been  written,  / 

Judith  : — In  the  reign  of  King  Manasscs,  636 
B.C.,  Nabuchodonosor,  King  of  Nineve,  not  the 
same  as  the  Nabuchodonosor  who  afterwards  reigned 
in  Babylon,  sent  his  general,  Holofernes,  with  an 
army  to  subjugate  the  land  of  Israel.  The  invader 
had  a  triumphant  march  until  he  reached  Bethulia, 
not  far  from  Jerusalem,  where  the  citizens  offered  a 
determined  resistance.     By  cutting  off  the  water 


HISTORICAL   BOOKS   OF   THE    OLD   TESTAMENT.  207 

and  other  supplies  Holofemes  reduced  the  besieged 
to  such  straits  that  the  governor,  Ozias,  promised  to 
surrender  in  a  few  days  unless,  in  the  meantime, 
heaven  came  to  their  relief.  Judith,  a  pious  young 
widow  of  great  wealth  and  beauty,  who  wore  hair- 
cloth, and  fasted  every  day,  reproached  Ozias  for 
thus  putting  a  term  to  the  Divine  mercy,  and  ex- 
horted her  fellow  citizens  to  join  in  earnest  prayer 
to  the  offended  majesty  of  God.  Then  substituting 
for  her  widow's  dress  rich  robes,  and  adorned  with 
jewels  of  rare  value,  she  proceeded  to  the  Assyrian 
camp  and  asked  to  see  their  leader.  Holofernes, 
captivated  by  the  singular  beauty  of  his  visitor, 
gave  her  a  friendly  welcome.  One  evening,  Judith, 
being  invited  by  the  general  to  his  tent  with  im- 
proper design,  found  him  in  a  drunken  fit,  and 
snatching  a  sword  that  hung  upon  the  wall,  she 
struck  off  the  head  of  the  sensual  Holofernes.  Still 
holding  the  ghastly  object  in  her  hands,  Judith 
hurried  with  it  into  the  beleagured  city  and  roused 
the  fainting  courage  of  the  citizens  by  recounting 
what  she  had  done.  Filled  with  a  spirit  of  ardour, 
they  attacked  the  Assyrians,  who  were  thrown  into 
confusion  by  the  death  of  their  leader,  and  suffered 
a  total  defeat.  At  the  news,  Joachim,  the  High 
Priest,  came  down  from  Jerusalem,  and  on  seeing 
JuiHth,  cried  out : — ''  Thou  art  the  glory  of  Jeru- 
^'salem,  thou  art  the  joy  of  Israel,  thou  art  the 
*' honour  of  our  people"    (Judith   xv.    10).     In 


208  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

response  Judith  burst  forth,  into  a  canticle  of  tender 
thanksgiving,  which  closes  this  book,  supp'jsed  to 
have  been  written  by  Joachim,  the  High  Priest.  / 

Esther: — Assuerus,  the  third  King  of  Babylon 
in  succession  from  Cyrus,  about  417  B.C.,  divorced 
his  queen,  Yasthi,  and  married  Esther,  a  Jewess. 
Esther  being  an  orphan,  had  been  brought  up  in 
the  practice  of  solid  virtue  by  her  uncle,  Mar- 
dochai,  who,  now  that  his  niece  was  queen,  often 
visited  the  palace.  Upon^  one  occasion  he  over- 
heard the  eunuchs  planning  to  take  away  the  king's 
life.  Esther  was  told  at  once  of  the  wicked  design, 
and  lost  no  time  in  informing  her  royal  husband 
of  the  conspiracy,  who  had  the  eunuchs  put  to 
death,  and  Mardochai  raised  to  a  high  position 
at  court.  This  so-  roused  the  jealousy  of  Aman, 
the  prime  minister,  that  he  procured  a  royal  edict 
to  expel  all  the  Jews  in  the  kingdom.  Mardochai 
brought  this  document  to  Esther,  and  she  induced 
his  majesty  to  cancel  it.  In  the  meantime  Aman 
made  every  arrangement  to  hang  Mardochai,  but  the 
night  before  the  execution,  Assuerus,  starting  out 
of  a  horrible  dream,  commanded  the  public  annals 
to  be  read  aloud  to  him.  When  the  passage  relating 
the  terrible  plot  of  the  eunuchs,  and  its  discovery 
by  Mardochai,  had  been  gone  over,  the  prime 
minister  was  summoned  into  the  royal  presence,  and 
asked :  "  What  ought  to  be  done  to  the  man  whom 
f*  the  king  desireth  to  honour  ?"  (Esther  vi.  6).  Aman, 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS    OF   THE    OLD    TESTAMENT.  209 

believing  the  distinction  to  be  intended  for  himself^ 
made  a  proposal  which  Assuerus  ordered  to  be  con- 
ferred on  Mardochai.  Just  then  Esther  told  Assu- 
erus of  Aman's  bitter  hostility  to  her  uncle,  and 
the  king  condemned  his  minister  to  be  hanged  upon 
the  same  gallows-tree  that  had  been  prepared  for 
Mardochai.  The  authorship  of  this  book  is  generally 
attributed  to  Mardochai,  because  in  the  9th  chapter 
it  is  stated  that  ''  Mardochai  wrote  all  these 
things."/ 

Job  : — Job  was  an  Arabian  remarkable  for  a  holy 
life.  The  fact  of  his  riches,  consisting  in  flocks  and 
pasturage,  and  his  acting  as  priest  in  his  own  family, 
places  him  certainly  in  the  patriarchal  times,  though 
there  are  some  who  think  he  was  a  contemporary  of 
Moses  about  1520  B.C.  God  allowed  Satan  to  afflict 
this  devout  man  in  order  to  test  his  virtue.  This 
was  begun  by  the  destruction  of  every  beast  on  Job's 
extensive  plains,  and  the  murder  of  the  herdsmen, 
except  two,  who  escaped  to  tell  the  sad  tale  to  the 
unhappy  owner.  Soon  after  this  calamity  Job  was 
informed  that  his  seven  sons  and  three  daughters, 
while  together  in  a  brother's  house,  were  crushed 
to  death  by  the  falling  in  of  the  roof.  Eut,  though 
these  misfortunes  came  rapidly  upon  him.  Job  did 
not  complain.  He  said:  "The  Lord  gave  and  the 
''Lord  hath  taken  away,  .  .  .  blessed  be  the  name 
of  the  Lord''  (Job  i.  21).  But  the  last  suffering 
sent  to  him  by  God  was  excruciating,  for  his  whole 


210  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT    IJOOKS. 

body  became  a  mass  of  festering  sores,  so  loathsome 
that  his  wife  bade  him  ''  bless  God  and  die  "  (Job 
ii.  9).  Still  he  meekly  observed: — ''If  we  have 
received  good  things  at  the  hand  of  God  why  should 
we  not  receive  evil"  (Job  ii.  10).  In  this  state 
he  was  visited  by  some  friends  who  sat  at  his  feet 
for  seven  days  Avithout  uttering  a  single  word  of 
sympathy.  At  last  they  broke  this  silence,  with 
bitter  remarks,  to  the  effect  that  sinners  only  are 
afflicted  by  such  painful  diseases.  Job  replied  that 
God,  no  doubt,  being  infinitely  good,  disposes  all 
things  justly  and  wisely ;  but  He  allows  sometimes 
the  wicked  in  this  life  to  prosper,  and  the  good  to  be 
sorely  tried  for  an  end  known  to  Himself  alone. 
[N^otwithstanding  this  glorious  profession  of  faith 
Job  ventured  rashly  to  sound  the  Divine  secrets  in 
connection  with  his  own  case.  God,  from  a  whirl- 
wind, reprehended  this  temerity.  Job,  seeing  his 
error,  humbled  himself  in  dust  and  ashes,  when  God, 
after  defending  him  from  the  cruel  taunts  of  false 
friends,  rewarded  his  patience  and  repentance  by 
restoring  him  to  his  former  prosperous  condition  and 
raising  up  a  new  family  to  him.  / 

Job  prophesied  the  coming  of  the  Messias  and  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  in  these  words : — ''  For  I 
''know  that  my  Eedeemer  liveth,  and  in  the  last 
"  day  I  shall  rise  out  of  the  eartL  And  I  shall  be 
"  clothed  again  with  my  skin,  and  in  my  flesh  I  shall, 
"  see  my  God.     Whom  I  myself  shall  see,  and  my 


HISTORICAL    BOOKS   OF    THE    OLD   TESTAMENT.  211 


•^^  eyes  shall  behold,  and  not  another;  this  my  hope 
'"  is  laid  up  in  my  bosom  "  (Job  xix.  25,  26). 

The  writer  of  this  book  is  supposed  to  be  Job 
himself,  and  his  object  was  doubtless,  to  show  that 
human  ills  are  sent  to  the  wicked  in  punishment  of 
sin,  and  to  the  just  as  a  proof  of  their  virtue,  but 
to  determine  when  they  are  sent  as  a  test,  and  when 
as  a  punishment,  is  known  to  God  alone,  and  there- 
fore rash  for  any  man  to  inquire.  Job  is  mentioned 
by  Ezechiel  (xiv.  14),  and  St.  James  in  his  Epistle 
(v.  14)  speaks  of  him : — '^  You  have  heard,"  he  says, 
^'  of  the  patience  of  Job."  / 

Machabees  I.  and  II.  Eooks  : — These  the  last  of 
the  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament  recount 
the  persecution  of  the  Jews  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
a  descendant  of  one  of  the  four  generals  to  whom 
Alexander  the  great  left  his  vast  dominions.  This 
Antiochus  during  his  reign  over  Syria  and  Palestine, 
which  began  in  1G7  B.C.,  drove  the  Jews  into  rebel- 
lion by  endeavouring  to  force  them  to  worship  idols 
which  he  caused  to  be  sacrilegiously  installed  in  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem.  Mathathias,  the  High  Priest, 
who  belonged  to  the  family  of  the  Asmoneans,  took 
the  field  at  the  head  of  his  outraged  people.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Judas,  surnamed  Macha- 
beus  from  the  Hebrew  words  inscribed  on  his  banner. 
"When  Judas  fell,  his  brother  Jonathan,  took  his 
place,  and  lastly  his  brother  Simon ;  but  they  were 
all  slain  in  battle.     God  visited  Antiochus  with 


21^  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

grievous  suffering  and  a  terrible  death,  while  He 
gave  extraordinary  success  to  the  army  of  the  brave 
and  pious  Machabees.  By  their  heroic  deeds  not  only 
was  the  true  religion  preserved,  but  they  brought 
peace  to  Judea,  and  consolidated  this  national  bles- 
sing by  passing  wise  laws  and  improving  the  internal 
administration  of  the  government.  The  writer  of 
this  eventful  part  of  the  inspired  volume,  as  far  as 
regards  the  first  Book  of  Machabees,  is  believed  to 
be  John  Hyrcanus,  son  of  Simon  Machabeus,  but 
who  the  ^vriter  of  the  second  Book  may  be  it  is. 
difficult  even  to  conjecture.  / 


CHAPTEE  III. 


MORAL   BOOKS   OF   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  AND   THE 
PROPHETS. 

The  Psalms — Proverbs — Ecclesiastes— Canticle    of    Canticles — 
"Wisdom — Ecclesiasticus — Prophets. 

^  The  Psalm?,  which  St.  Athanasius  pronounces  to 
1)6  an  epitome  of  the  whole  Scripture,  are  a  collection 
of  hymns  sung  to  the  Lord  by  the  Levites.  They 
are  umivalled  by  anything  either  in  sacred  or 
profane  writing,  as  regards  force  of  argument,  sub- 
limity of  poetry,  boldness  of  figure,  or  strength  of 
expression.  / 

There  are  1 50  Psalms  in  the  Canon,  of  which  those 
from  the  119th  to  the  133rd  are  called  Gradual^ 
because  they  were  chaunted  by  the  Jews  on  their 
return  from  the  Babylonish  captivity.  The  titles 
which  they  have,  as  ''unto  the  end,"  St.  Augustine 
believes  to  be  canonical,  but  this  is  denied  by  others. 
The  word  psalm  is  derived  from  the  Greek  i/^aXAw, 
to  sing  with  harp -accompaniment,  and  hence  the 
latin  Psalterium,  the  English  Psalter.  Some  of  the 
Psalms  praise  God's  perfections,  others  supplicate 
Him  for  favours,  while  not  a  few  breathe  deep  re- 


214  THE    OLD   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

pentance  for  sin,  and  many  of  them  prophesy  the 
Adventj  Passion^  and  Resurrection  of  our  Blessed 
Lord.  In  reference  to  their  authorship,  the  name  of 
David  is  attached  to  73,  but  more  are  attributed  to 
him  in  the  iNTew  Testament.  Then  12  are  ascribed 
to  Asaph,  7  to  the  sons  of  Core,  2  to  Solomon,  one- 
to  Elihu  the  Ezrahite,  and  one  to  Moses  ;  but  these 
also,  according  to  Bellarmine,  were  composed  by 
David  and  the  names  written  upon  them  belong  to 
the  persons  by  whom  they  were  sung.  The  Psalms 
in  the  original  Hebrew  are  numbered  differently 
from  the  Latin  Yulgate,  though  the  total  (150)  is 
the  same  in  both.  In  the  Hebrew  the  9  th  Psalm  is. 
divided  into  two  parts  at  verse  22,  and  the  113th 
Psalm  at  the  9th  verse.  The  original  has,  therefore, 
two  Psalms  more  than  the  Yulgate  at  this  point ;  but 
in  the  114th  Psalm  the  Hebrew  drops  one  by  joining 
the  114th  with  the  115th,  and  a  second  at  the  14Gth 
Psalm,  where  the  difference  disappears.  / 

The  Pho verbs: — Are  short  pregnant  sentences 
exhorting  the  reader  to  cultivate  wisdom  that  is. 
virtue,  the  truest  wisdom,  and  avoid  vice.  Hence, 
St.  Jerome  says  that  Solomon  wrote  them  for  the 
instruction  of  the  young,  just  as  he  wrote  Ecclesi- 
astes  for  persons  of  mature  age  to  impress  upon  them 
the  vanity  of  all  human  things,  and  the  Canticle  of 
Canticles  for  the  old  to  set  before  them  a  perfect 
model  of  chastity,  i 

EccLESiASTES  : — This  is  an  exhortation  by  the  same 


MORAL  BOOKS  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  PROPHETS.    215 

author  addressed  to  the  whole  Church  (EKKXeo-ta),  de- 
signed to  show  that  in  this  world  there  is  nothing 
abiding,  true  or  great,  except  to  fear  God  and  obey 
His  commandments,  so  as  to  appear  well  before  His 
judgment  seat.  Hence  the  oft-repeated  exclamation, 
'^  Vanity  of  vanities  and  all  is  vanity  .  .  .  Fear  God 
and  keep  His  commandments,  for  this  is  all  man." 

Canticle  of  Canticles  is  the  greatest  Canticle. 
In  it  under  the  symbol  of  a  chaste  spouse,  repre- 
sented as  a  shepherd,  and  his  wife  as  the  keeper  of 
a  vineyard,  or  the  king's  daughter,  Solomon,  who  is 
believed  to  be  the  author,  describes  the  love  with 
which  God  cherishes  the  Synagogue,  as  well  as  the 
Christian  Church  of  which  the  Synagogue  was  but 
the  figure.  The  words  of  this  Canticle  of  Canticles 
are  applied  to  the  union  of  Christ  with  all  the  just 
members  of  His  Church,  and  especially  with  our 
Blessed  Lady. 

Wisdom  : — Here,  by  striking  examples  taken  from 
early  Jewish  history,  kings  and  others  in  power  are 
urged  to  study  wisdom  and  the  fear  of  God.  It  is 
styled  "the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,"  but  St.  Jerome 
and  St.  Augustine  think  it  was  the  work  of  some 
other  person  now  unknown.  / 

EccLESiASTicus  : — This  book  was  written  by 
"Jesus,  the  son  of  Sirach,"  who  was  a  citizen  of 
Jerusalem,  remarkable  for  his  piety  in  the  time  of 
Simon,  the  High  Priest,  in  the  third  century  before 
Christ.     Wisdom  is  declared  to  consist  in  the  fear  of 


216  THK    OLD    TESTAMENT    IJOOKS. 

God,  and  in  order  to  assist  in  the  cultivation  of  this 
heavenly  virtue,  rules  adapted  to  all  conditions  of 
life  are  set  forth  in  the  fullest  and  most  impressive 
manner.  / 

Peophets  : — The  name  Prophet  is  applied  to  one 
who  predicts  future  events  by  his  own  or  a  super- 
natural light.  The  Scripture  prophets  received  the 
Divine  communication,  either  by  a  vision  as  in  the 
case  of  Isaias,  Daniel,  Ezechiel  and  Zacharias,  or 
in  di'eams  as  regards  Jacob  and  Joseph,  or  by  the 
apparition  of  Angels,  as  with  Daniel,  or  even  through 
the  human  voice  as  when  God  spoke  to  Moses  from 
the  burning  bush,  and  to  Samuel  in  the  sleeping 
chamber,  all  of  which  had  regard  to  future  events. 
The  special  mission  of  the  prophets  in  the  old  Law 
was  to  keep  alive  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
people  of  God  the  recollection  of  the  true  faith  and 
its  observances.  They  did  so  by  working  on  the 
obstinate  wills  of  the  Jews  with  repeated  assurances 
of  the  near  coming  of  the  Eedeemer,  while  by  the 
strongest  motives  of  hope  and  fear,  they  endeavoured 
to  deter  this  sensual  people  from  idol-worship.  As 
the  two  great  prophets  and  mii-acle  workers,  Elias 
and  Eliseus,  did  not  commit  their  prophetic  utter- 
ances to  writing  they  are  not  mentioned  amongst 
the  seventeen  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament.  These 
seventeen  are  classified  into  four  Major  Prophets, 
viz. :  Isaias,  Jeremias,  with  Paruch,  Ezechiel,  and 
Daniel,  so  called  because  their  writings  are  some- 


MORAL  BOOKS  OF  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  PROPHETS.     217 

^Iiat  extended,  and  the  twelve  3Iinor  Prophets 
whose  writings  are  of  a  much  more  restricted  char- 
acter. The  time  covered  hy  all  these  seventeen 
prophets  was  about  300  years,  beginning  with  750 

E.G./ 


f    n    It    m    n    n    n    ii    ■»     j^    »■- 


\    \i    tf    H    IL,J*     H^    If,    H    ij__]iyi_x*    vi    »T 


THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

♦ 

CHAPTEE  I. 

The  Four  Gospels — Acts  of  the  Apostles — The  Apocalypse. 
/ 

The  first  four  Books  of  the  'New  Testament  contain 
the  "  Good  tidings  of  great  joy ''  announced  to  the 
world  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  hence  they  are  called  in 
English  Gosjwls,  from  the  Saxon  ^ood  tidings^  which 
correspond  to  the  Greek  EuayyeXtov,  Latin  Evangelium,  / 

The  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew: — The  Aviiter  of 
this  first  gospel  is  Matthew  or  Levi,  a  native  of 
Galilee,  who  held  the  post  of  collector  of  public 
taxes.  St.  Matthew  was  located  at  Capharnaum, 
an  important  station  on  the  Lake  of  Gennesareth, 
when  Jesus  came  there  to  preach.  The  simple 
fervour  with  which  he  followed  the  words  of  his 
Divine  Teacher,  won  for  him  a  call  to  the 
Apostolate,  and  the  promptitude  with  which  he 
obeyed  this  summons  to  a  laborious  and  painful 
mission  is  attested  by  both  St.  Luke  and  St.  Mark. 
Like  the  other  Apostles  he  was  engaged  in  evan- 
gelizing Judea  until  the  time  had  arrived  to  "teach 
all  nations  "  (Matthew  xxviii.  1 9).    This  was  either 


220  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT   3300KS. 

in  51  A.D.,  immediately  after  the  Council  of  Jeru- 
salem, or  in  42  a.d.,  when  Herod  Agrippa  determined 
to  exterminate  the  Christian  name. 

St.  Matthew's  zeal  had  so  endeared  him  to  the 
Jewish  converts  that  on  the  eve  of  his  departure 
they  asked  for  some  record  of  his  holy  teaching. 
Their  request  he '  gratified  by  writing  his  Gospel, 
and  Eusebius,  the  historian  (Hist.  Eccl.  iii.  42)  in 
his  notice  of  this  fact,  adds  that  ^^  after  having 
preached  to  the  Jews  St.  Matthew  left  for  other 
countries,"  Ethiopia,  or  perhaps  Parthia,  where 
according  to  tradition,  he  laid  down  his  life  for  the 
faith.  \ 

This  Gospel  opens  with  the  human  generation  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  hence  St.  Matthew  is  represented 
by  a  man,  one  of  the  four  mystical  animals,  men- 
tioned in  Ezechiel  (i.  1),  and  in  the  Aj)ocalypse 
(iv.  7).  The  birth  and  infancy  of  our  Divine  Lord,  as 
well  as  His  forty  day's  fast,  occupy  four  chapters, 
and  sixteen  are  devoted  to  His  public  life,  passion, 
deaths  and  resurrection.  He  has  grouped  together 
the  most  prominent  facts  in  these  various  stages  in 
the  life  of  the  Eedeemer,  and  shows  that  they 
•accord  exactly  with  the  prophecies  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment regarding  the  promised  Messias.X 

As  the  Gospel  was  intended  chiefly  for  his 
-countrymen,  St.  Matthew  addressed  them  in  their 
own  language.  This  was  the  Syro-Chaldaic,  that  is 
the  Hebrew  modified  by  the  Chaldaic  or  Syriac, 


THE    FOUR   GOSPELS.  221 

which  the  Je\YS  were  obliged  to  adopt  during  the 
seventy  years'  captivity  in  Babylon.  Papias, 
Bishop  of  Hierapolis,  in  Phrygia,  speaking  of  St. 
Matthew,  soon  after  his  martyrdom,  says  ''  Matthew 
wrote  the  Divine  oracles  in  the  Hebrew  language." 
This  statement  is  confirmed  not  only  by  Irenasus 
and  Origen,  but  in  a  very  beautiful  story  told  by 
Eusebius  (Eccl.  Hist.  iii.  29)  of  St.  Pantenus,  the 
founder  of  the  famous  School  of  Alexandria,  in  179 
A.D.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  this  eminent  scholar, 
who  gave  up  his  high  office  for  the  burning  sands 
of  India  to  water  the  seed  of  the  faith  that  St. 
Bartholomew  had  sown  there,  found  during  his 
missionary  progress  the  original  of  St.  Matthew's 
Gospel  written  in  Hehreiu.  The  Jewish  converts, 
who  were  anxious  for  the  retention  of  the  Mosaie 
ritual,  are  said  to  have  tampered -with  the  text 
of  this  Gospel  in  order  to  have  the  authority  of  St. 
Matthew  in  support  of  their  errors.  The  Hebrew 
original  therefore,  disappeared,  and  its  place  Avas 
supplied  with  a  Greek  translation,  made  probably 
under  St.  Matthew's  own  supervision.  This  circum- 
stance doubtless  furnished  grounds  for  the  opinion, 
held  by  some,  that  Greek  was  the  original  language 
of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel.  / 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  bring  forward  the 
objection  that  in  Matthew  xxiii.  35,  our  Lord  is  re- 
presented as  denouncing  the  hypocrisy  of  the  Scribes- 
and  Pharisees  in  these  words: — ^'That  upon  you 


222  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

^'  may  come  all  tlie  just  blood  of  Abel  tlie  just,  even 
*^  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  the  son  of  Earachias, 
^'whom  you  killed  between  the  temple  and  the 
"  altar."  !N'ow  Josephus,  in  his  minute  details  of 
the  terrible  siege  of  Jerusalem,  mentions  that  a 
certain  Zacharias,  son  of  Baruch,  was  killed  by  some 
fanatics.  There  is  nothing,  however,  in  this  state- 
ment to  prove  that  the  writer  of  the  first  Gosioel  was 
not  St.  Matthew.  The  murder  to  which  our  Lord 
alluded  is  described  in  II.  Paralipomenon  (xxiv.  20, 
21) : — ^'  The  spirit  of  God  then  came  upon  Zacha- 
^4'ias,  the  son  of  Joiada,  the  priest,  and  he  stood  in 
^^the  sight  of  the  people,  and  said  to  them:  Thus 
'-'•  saith  the  Lord  God  :  Why  transgress  you  the  com- 
"  mandment  of  the  Lord  which  will  not  be  for  your 
^'  good,  and  have  forsaken  the  Lord,  to  make  himfor- 
^^  sake  you  ?  And  they  gathered  themselves  together 
*' against  him,  and  stoned  him  at  the  King's  com- 
'^  mandment  in  the  court  of  the  house  of  the  Lord." 
Zacharias,  the  subject  of  this  episode,  was  really  the 
son  of  Joiada,  the  High  Priest ;  but  because  of  his 
eminent  piety  and  zeal,  our  Lord  spoke  of  him  as 
the  son  of  Barachias,  or  "blessed  of  the  Lord." 
This  Zacharias  was  so  zealous  in  rescuing  his  people 
from  the  worship  of  idols  that  the  Apostate  King, 
Joas,  incited  the  Jews  to  murder  him  under  circum- 
stances of  great  cruelty  between  the  vestibule  of  the 
sanctuary  and  the  altar  of  holocausts.  \ 
The  Gospel  of  St.  Mark,  which  St.  Augustine  calls 


THE    FOUR    GOSPKLS.  223 

a  compendium  of  that  of  St.  Matthew's,  was  written 
by  St.  Mark  or  John  Mark  (Acts  xii.  12).  In  order 
to  dedicate  himself  to  the  preaching  of  the  Christian 
faith,  St.  Mark  left  his  home  at  Jerusalem  and 
joined  St.  Peter  at  Rome,  where  he  acted  as  his 
secretary.  He  thus  acquired  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  what  the  chief  of  the  Apostles  taught,  and  this, 
with  the  assistance  and  approval  of  his  master  he 
set  forth  in  his  Gospel,  about  47  or  48  a.d.,  to 
gratify  the  converts  at  Eome;  This  incident  we  learn 
from  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria  in  the  Eccl.  Hist. 
of  Eusebius  (vi.  14).  And  indeed,  the  spirit  of  St. 
Peter  is  reflected  in  the  pages  of  St.  Mark's  Gospel; 
for  his  denial  of  Christ  is  given  most  fully,  while 
his  confession  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus,  and  the  fact 
of  his  own  elevation  to  the  primacy  of  the  whole 
Church  is  passed  over  in  silence.  / 

St.  Mark  begins  with  our  Blessed  Lord's  royal 
descent.  On  this  account,  or  perhaps  because  of  the 
opening  allusion  to  St.  John  the  Baptist,  crying  in 
the  desert :  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make 
^^  straight  his  paths,"  commentators  generally  re- 
gard the  lion  mentioned  by  Ezechiel  as  typical  of 
St.  Mark.  This  Gospel  St.  Mark  wrote  in  Greek, 
which  was  very  generally  understood  all  over  the 
East.  / 

The  eminent  annalist.  Cardinal  Baronius,  was  so 
struck  with  a  very  ancient  Latin  translation  of  this 
Gospel;  which  found  its  way  from  the  archives  of 


224  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

Aquileia  in  420  to  the  library  of  St.  Mark  in 
Yenice,  that  he  assumed  it  to  be  the  original  of  St. 
Mark's  Gospel.  But  the  most  competent  authorities 
have  pronounced  the  document  to  be  part  of  a  manu- 
script belonging  to  the  fourth  century.  / 

According  to  the  Bollandists  St.  Mark,  after  leav- 
ing Eonie  about  50  a.d.,  evangelized  Egypt  for 
twelve  years,  and  then  fixed  his  see  at  Alexandria. 
His  success  roused  the  the  jealousy  of  Pagan  priests, 
who  tracked  him  in  his  flight  to  a  hiding  place  near 
the  sea.  While  celebrating  Mass  they  dragged  him 
out  over  sharp-pointed  rocks  till  he  was  dead,  and 
then  flung  his  mangled  corpse  to  the  sea  birds. 
Some  pious  souls,  who  witnessed  the  martyrdom, 
carried  the  body  into  the  catacombs  at  Alexandria. 
It  was  afterwards  laid  in  a  marble  tomb  in  the  great 
church  of  that  city,  where  it  remained  until  815, 
when  the  prosperous  republic  of  Yenice  had  it  re- 
moved to  the  noble  temple  raised  to  the  saint' & 
memory  in  their  beautiful  city.  / 

The  Gospel  of  St.  Luke: — St.  Luke,  an  emi- 
nent medical  man,  gave  up  a  lucrative  practice 
to  attach  himself  to  St.  Paul,  who  converted  him  to 
the  faith  of  Christ  at  Antioch,  about  a.d.  53.  Hi^ 
cultivated  style  proves  him  to  have  been  a  finished 
scholar,  nor  does  this  exhaust  the  list  of  his  accom- 
plishments, for  in  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  in  the  Via 
Lata  at  Eome,  there  is  a  celebrated  painting  of 
Our  BlessWl  Lady  inscribed  thus  :  *'  One  of  the 


THE    FOUR   GOSPELS.  225 

seven  painted  by  St.  Luke,"  wliicli  would  entitle 
him  to  be  ranked  as  an  artist  of  merit.  / 

About  60  or  61  a.d.  St.  Luke  resolved  ^'  to  set 
"  forth,  in  order  a  narration  of  the  things  that  have 
" been  accomplished  among  us;  according  as  they 
^'  have  delivered  them  unto  us.  who  from  the  begin- 
"ning  were  eye-witnesses  and  ministers  of  the 
^'  word  "  (Luke  i.  1  and  2).  His  object  therefore, 
was  to  give  from  the  information  of  eye-witnesses, 
a  more  detailed  account  than  the  two  preceding 
Evangelists  of  what  Jesus  did  and  taught.  Hence 
he  relates  the  Annunciation  of  Our  Blessed  Lady, 
the  Circumcision  and  Presentation  of  Our  Blessed 
Lord,  and  various  other  important  particulars,  not 
recorded  in  the  preceding  Gospels,  He  intended 
his  book  to  strengthen  the  faith  of  the  converts 
from  paganism,  and  for  this  reason  he  dedicated  it 
to  Theophilus,  their  most  prominent  representative 
in  Antioch  :  ^^  It  seemed  good  to  me  also,  having 
'^  diligently  attained  to  all  things  from  the  begin- 
*'ning,  to  write  to  thee  in  order  most  excellent 
*^  Theophilus,  that  thou  may  est  know  the  verity  of 
"those  words  in  which  thou  hast  been  instructed'' 
(Luke  i.  3  and  4). 

The  priestly  office  of  our  Saviour  is  the  most 

prominent  feature  in  this   Gospel,  and   therefore, 

St.  Luke  is  represented  by  the  ox,  or  emblem  of 

sacrifice.  / 

Acts  of  the  Apostles  : — So  far  there  was  no 

p 


226  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

connected  history  of  the  beginnings  of  the  Church, 
and  to  meet  this  want  St.  Luke,  a  few  years  after 
completing  his  Gospel,  wrote  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, a  name  derived  from  the  fact  that  the  first  half 
is  devoted  to  the  labours  of  St  Peter ;  and  in  the 
second  half  St.  Luke  gives,  from  his  own  personal 
knowledge,  a  sketch  of  the  missionary  career  of  St. 
Paul.  / 

St.  John's  Gospel  : — The  author  of  this  Gospel 
was  called  to  the  high  office  of  Apostle,  with  his 
brother  St.  James,  the  greater,  when  our  Lord  ^^came 
into  Galilee,  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  "  (Mark  i.  14).  Their  father,  Zebedee,  was 
actually  engaged  in  his  own  humble  business  of 
fishing  on  the  sea  of  Galilee,  when  Jesus  invited 
the  two  sons  to  follow  Him.  The  simplicity  of  St. 
John's  youth,  and  the  life  of  angelic  purity  which 
he  had  embraced,  made  him  very  dear  to  our  Blessed 
Lord,  who  permitted  him  to  recline  on  His  sacred 
breast,  at  the  last  supper.  It  was  his  virginity 
that  gained  for  this  favourite  Apostle  the  inestim- 
able privilege  of  attending  the  Mother  of  God  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross,  and  by  his  sympathy  lessening 
the  bitterness  of  her  great  sorrow.  "  Thus,'*  says 
St.  Jerome,  "  Jesus  confided  in  his  last  moments 
His  Virgin  mother  to  the  care  of  the  virgin  dis- 
ciple.'' And  faithfully  did  St.  John  fulfil  his  charge 
during  the  years  the  Virgin  Mother  survived  her 
Divine  Son.  \ 


THE    FOUR  GOSPELS.  227 


Asia  Minor  was  the  scene  of  St.  John's  labours. 
His  success  there  attracted  such  public  attention 
that  in  95  a.d.,  during  the  persecution  of  Domitian, 
lie  was  dragged  a  prisoner  to  Eome,  where,  having 
escaped  unhurt  from  his  immersion  in  a  caldron  of 
boiling  oil,  he  was  banished  to  Patmos.  In  96 
A.D.,  upon  the  death  of  the  Emperor,  he  was 
allowed  to  return  to  Ephesus,  where  he  found 
that  in  his  absence,  Ebion  and  Cerinthus,  who 
denied  the  divinity  of  Christ,  had  succeeded  in 
introducing  their  heresy  among  his  flock.  This 
attempt  to  corrupt  the  faith  of  his  people  so  moved 
St.  John  that  he  determined  to  defeat  it  by  every 
means  in  his  power.  This  pious  resolve  found 
immediate  effect  from  the  following  incident  related 
by  St.  Jerome.  The  apostle  was  earnestly  pressed 
by  the  brethren  to  write  a  Gospel.  He  consented, 
if,  observing  a  common  fast,  they  would  all  send  up 
their  prayers  to  God  to  attain  for  him  all  the  grace 
necessary  for  this  arduous  undertaking,  which  being 
done,  he,  with  the  clearest  and  fullest  revelation 
from  Heaven,  burst  forth  "  In  the  beginning  was 
^'the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God."  Some 
important  details  connected  with  the  Passion  and 
Eesurrection,  not  found  in  the  previous  Gospels  are 
supplied,  and  to  remove  the  danger  of  misinterpre- 
tation he  explains  some  mystical  sayings  of  our  Lord, 
like  the  "  destroying  of  the  Temple,  and  raising  it 
up  in  three  days."/ 


22S  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

This  Gospel  holds  in  the  Yulgate  the  last  place, 
because  it  is  latest  in  the  point  of  time.  It  is  to. 
be  remarked  that  the  sequence  of  facts  and  doctrines 
is  not  exactly  the  same  in  each  of  the  four  Gospels, 
for  they  were  written  by  men  differing  widely  in 
character  and  disposition,  and  each  having  some 
peculiar  ob j  ect  to  attain.  This  distinct  individuality 
is  also  stamped  upon  whatever  the  Evangelists  relate 
in  common,  but  it  never  amounts  to  a  contradiction. 
In  short,  the  agreement  between  them  is  remarkable, 
and  has  been  appropriately  styled  the  harmony  of 
the  Gospels,  / 

The  Apocalypse  : — One  Sunday  morning  during 
the  term  of  his  banishment  in  Patmos,  St.  John,, 
while  engaged  in  prayer,  saw  before  him  His  Divine^ 
Saviour,  clothed  in  a  garment  down  to  the  feet* 
The  vision  changed  to  the  throne  of  God,  and  the 
trials  and  triumphs  of  the  Church  of  Christ  were 
revealed  to  the  Evangelist  in  grand  symbolic 
imagery : — "After  these  things  I  looked,  and  behold 
"  a  door  was  opened  in  heaven,  and  the  first  voice 
"  which  I  heard,  as  it  were,  of  a  trumpet  speaking 
"  with  me,  said  :  Come  up  hither  and  I  will  show 
''  thee  the  things  which  must  be  done  hereafter.  And 
"immediately  I  was  in  the  spirit,  and  behold  there 
"  was  a  throne  set  in  heaven,  and  upon  the  throne 
"  one  sitting.  And  he  that  sat  was  to  the  sight  like 
"the  jasper  and  the  sardine-stone:  and  there  was 
"a  rainbow  round  about  the  thi'one,  in  sight  like 


THE    APOCALYPSE.  229 


^'unto  an  emerald.  And  round  about  the  tlirone 
^^were  four  and  twenty  seats:  and  upon  the  seats 
^^four  and  twenty  ancients  sitting,  clothed  in  white 
"  garments,  and  on  their  heads  were  crowns  of  gold. 
^'And  from  the  throne  proceeded  lightnings  and 
^^  voices  and  thunders,  and  there  were  seven  lamps 
'^burning  before  the  throne,  which  are  the  seven 
'^  spirits  of  God.  And  in  the  sight  of  the  throne 
*^  Avas,  as  it  were,  a  sea  of  glass  like  to  crystal :  and 
"in  the  midst  of  the  throne  and  round  about  the 
''throne  were  four  living  creatures  full  of  eyes  be- 
''fore  and  behind  "  (Apocalypse  iv.  1-6).  / 

The  mysterious  book,  sealed  with  the  seven  seals, 
being  now  produced,  the  Apostle  learned  that  no 
man  was  worthy  to  open  it.  He  wept  bitterly, 
whereupon  the  Lamb  appeared  and  began  to  undo 
the  seals  one  by  one.  During  this  operation,  horses 
of  various  colours  appeared  in  view  before  him  car- 
rying knights  in  armour,  who  met  in  the  shock  of 
battle.  Then  came  the  removal  of  the  fifth  seal, 
followed  by  a  petition  from  the  army  of  martyrs, 
praying  punishment  on  the  persecutors  of  the 
Church.  / 

At  this  stage  the  sixth  seal  was  unfastened,  lay- 
ing open  the  awful  accompaniments  which  make  the 
last  Judgment  so  terrible: — ''And  I  saw,  when  he 
"had  opened  the  sixth  seal,  and  behold  there  was  a 
'"great  earthquake,  and  the  sun  became  black  as 
^'  sack-cloth  of  hair:  and  the  whole  moon  became  as 


230  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

^' blood  :  And  the  stars  from  heaven  fell  upon 
"  the  earth  as  the  fig-tree  casteth  its  green  figs  when 
^4t  is  shaken  by  a  great  wind:  And  the  heaven 
*'  departed  as  a  book  folded  up :  and  every  mountain, 
"and  the  islands  were  moved  out  of  their  places" 
(Apocalypse  vi.  12-14).  There  was  profound 
silence  after  the  removal  of  the  seventh  seal,  when 
the  seven  angels  announced,  with  loud  trumpets,  a 
visitation  of  seven  desolating  plagues,  and  then  camo 
the  vision  of  the  woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  which 
was  followed  by  the  war  between  the  Church 
and  Antichrist: — "And  I  saw  a  beast  coming  up 
"  out  of  the  sea,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns, 
"and  upon  his  horns  ten  diadems,  and  upon  his 
''  heads  names  of  blasphemy  "  (Apocalypse  xiii.  1). 
To  this  fearful  picture  succeeded  that  of  "  The 
"  virgins  who  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he 
"goeth,  having  his  name  and  the  name  of  his 
"  Father  written  on  their  foreheads  to  the  number 
"of  144,000."  The  triumph  of  these  virgins  over 
the  "  beast "  is  celebrated  by  the  singing  of  a  new 
canticle  to  the  accompaniment  of  many  harps ;  while 
the  doom  that  awaits  the  wicked  is  set  down  in 
these  words  :  "  And  the  third  Angel  followed  them, 
"  saying  with  a  loud  voice :  If  any  man  shall  adore 
"the  beast  and  his  image,  and  receive  his  character 
"  in  his  forehead,  or  in  his  hand.  He  also  shall 
"  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  i& 
"  mingled  with  pure  wine  in  the  cup  of  his  wrath^ 


THE   APOCALYPSE.  231 


^^  and  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  in 
*^  the  sight  of  the  holy  Angels,  and  in  the  sight  of 
^^the  Lamb.  And  the  smoke  of  their  torments 
"  shall  ascend  up  for  ever  and  ever,  neither  have 
*'they  rest  day  nor  night,  who  have  adored  the 
"  beast,  and  his  image,  and  whosoever  receiveth  the 
*' character  of  his  name"    (Apocalypse  xiv.  9-11). 

To  complete  this  appalling  description  of  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked,  the  seven  vials  of  the 
wrath  of  God,  are  poured  out  upon  the  earth,  and 
Babylon,  or  the  world  of  sin,  after  being  drenched 
with  the  blood  of  martyrs  is  destroyed  in  the  midst 
of  great  rejoicing.  / 

Christ's  triumphant  victory  in  the  end,  and  the 
imperishable  joys  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  make 
up  the  closing  visions  of  this  wonderful  book, 
which  ^^ possesses,"  according  to  St.  Jerome,  ''as 
many  sacraments  as  words.'*  All  this  Jesus  com- 
manded St.  John  ''  to  write  in  a  book  for  the  seven 
Churches  of  Asia  Minor."  The  Apostle  did  so 
with  the  following  dedication :  "  The  Eevelation  of 
''  Jesus  Christ,  which  God  gave  unto  him,  to  make 
''known  to  his  servants  the  things  which  must 
"  shortly  come  to  pass :  and  signified,  sending  by 
"  His  angel  to  His  servant,  John,  who  hath  given 
"  testimony  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  testimony 
"  of  Jesus  Christ,  what  things  soever  he  hath  seen 
(Apocalypse  i.  1-2.)  The  weight  of  St.  John's 
own  name  is  appended  to    prevent    the    smallest 


232  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

suspicion  of  incredibility,  for  he  alone  was  in  the 
position  to  address  with  authority  the  Bishops  of  the 
seven  Churches  of  Asia  Minor.  His  identity  is  more 
distinctly  defined  in  the  Greek  manuscripts  where 
the  book  is  styled :  ^'  The  Apocalypse  of  8t.  John, 
the  theologian/'  and  in  the  oldest  Latin  Versions, 
in  which  it  is  mentioned  as  ^'  The  Apocalypse  of 
St.  John  the  Apostle.' V 


CHAPTEE  II. 

THE    EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

St.  Paul's  antecedents — His  conversion — His  three  Apostolic 
journeys — Epistle  to  the  Romans — First  and  second  Epistles  to 
the  Corinthians — Epistle  to  the  Galatians — Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians — Epistle  to  the  Phillippians — Epistle  to  the  Colossians — First 
•and  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians — The  two  Epistles  to 
Timothy  and  one  to  Titus— Epistle  to  Philemon — Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews. 

St.  Paul: — The  fourteen  l^ew  Testament  books, 
following  in  order  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  were 
written  by  St.  Paul,  who  says  that  he  was  ^'  of  the 
stock  of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  an  He- 
brew of  the  Hebrews"  (Philippians  iii.  5);  and 
again: — ^^I  am  a  Jew,  born  at  Tarsus,  in  Cilicia 
.  .  .  Men,  brethren,  I  am  a  Pharisee,  the  son  of 
Pharisees  "  (Acts  xxii.  3,  and  xxiii.  6).  The  Pha- 
risees were  those  Jews  who  publicly  affected  great 
austerity  in  the  practice  of  their  religion,  but  undei: 
a  sanctimonious  exterior  concealed  a  depraved  heart. 
The  parents  of  St.  Paul  belonged  to  this  sect,  and 
resolved  to  make  their  son  a  leading  advocate  of  its 
principles.  With  this  view  they  sent  him  from  his 
native  Tarsus  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  studied  under 


234  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

Gamaliel,  tlie  most  eminent  teacher  of  the  Jewish  law 
at  the  time.  He  joined  earnestly  in  the  work  of 
extirpating  the  Christian  religion,  and  after  assist- 
ing  at  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Stephen,  he  pursued  the 
converts  at  Jerusalem  into  their  hiding  places.  Find- 
ing that  some  escaped  to  Damascus,  he  was  soon  in 
pursuit.  On  the  way  God  struck  him  down  in  the 
midst  of  awful  accompaniments  in  which  he  heard 
our  Blessed  Lord  address  him : — ^'  Saul,  Saul,  why 
^^  persecutest  thou  me  ?  ...  ]^ow  the  men  who 
^^  went  in  company  with  him  stood  amazed,  hearing 
^^  indeed  a  voice,  but  seeing  no  man.  And  Saul 
'''  arose  from  the  ground,  and  when  his  eyes  were 
^^  opened  he  saw  nothing.  But  they  leading  him 
^'by  the  hands,  brought  him  to  Damascus,  and  he 
^^was  there  three  days  without  sight,  and  he  did 
"neither  eat  nor  drink''  (Acts  ix.  4-9).  1 

While  Saul  was  still  suffering  from  his  blindness 
his  Divine  Master  in  a  vision,  directed  Ananias,  a 
holy  man  then  in  Damascus,  to  proceed  to  the  house 
and  lay  hands  upon  him  that  he  might  recover  his 
sight,  saying : — "  For  this  man  is  to  me  a  vessel  of 
election  to  carry  my  name  before  the  Gentiles,  and 
kings,  and  the  children  of  Israel"  (Acts  ix.  15). 
Called  thus  in  a  special  manner  to  the  Apostolate, 
St.  Paul  for  the  remainder  of  his  eventful  life  never 
wearied  in  his  great  mission  of  carrying  the  name  of 
Christ  before  the  Gentiles.  He  visited  all  the  Syna- 
gogues in  Damascus,  and  there  by  boldly  "preaching 


THE    EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL.  235 

Jesus  that  lie  is  the  son  of  God,"  aroused  such,  a 
strong  feeling  against  him  amongst  the  entire  Jewish, 
community  tliat  lie  felt  obliged  to  withdraw  into  the 
desert  for  three  years.  After  this  term  lie  reap- 
peared in  Damascus,  and  renewing  his  preaching  he 
became  again  the  object  of  Jewish  hatred : — ''  And 
"when  many  days  were  past,  the  Jews  consulted 
"together  to  kill  him  .  .  .  And  they  watched 
"the  gates  also  day  and  night  that  they  might 
"kill  him.  But  the  disciples  taking  him  in  the 
"night,  conveyed  him  away  by  the  wall,  letting 
"him  down  in  a  basket"  (Acts  ix.  23-24).  The 
fugitive  having  reached  Jerusalem,  was  greeted  by 
St.  Peter  with  a  warm  welcome;  but  while  praying 
in  the  temple  he  heard  from  above  a  voice  which 
said : — "  Make  haste,  and  get  thee  quickly  out  of 
Jerusalem,  because  they  will  not  receive  thy  testi- 
mony concerning  me''  (Acts  xx.  18).  Immediately 
he  obeyed,  and  departed  from  the  great  city  to  revisit 
the  scenes  of  his  youth.  Here  he  was  cheered 
by  the  unexpected  arrival  of  St.  Barnabas,  on  his 
way  to  take  charge  of  the  congregation,  established 
by  St.  Peter  at  Antioch.  St.  Barnabas  pressed 
St.  Paul  to  join  him  in  his  mission,  and  drew  such 
a  vivid  picture  of  the  wants  of  the  Church  at  An- 
tioch, that  the  heart  of  the  listener  readily  responded 
to  the  invitation.  The  zeal  with  which  the  two  ser- 
vants of  God  applied  themselves  to  their  holy  work 
was  speedily  and  abundantly  blessed,  for  in  the  brief 


236  THE    JsEW   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

space  of  one  year  tlie  converts  at  Antioch  became  so 
numerous  as  to  form  an  important  section  of  the 
population  under  the  distinctive  name  of  Christians. 
In  these  chxumstances  the  Divine  will  was  inti- 
mated to  Saul  and  Barnabas  to  seek  new  pastures : — 
"!N'ow  there  were  in  the  Church  which  was  at 
^'Antioch  prophets  and  doctors,  among  whom  was 
^^  Barnabas  and  Simon,  who  was  called  Mger,  and 
^'Lucius  of  Cyrene,  and  Manahen,  who  was  the 
^'foster-brother  of  Herod  the  tetrarch,  and  Saul. 
"And  as  they  were  ministering  to  the  Lord,  and 
"  fasting,  the  Holy  Ghost  said  to  them:  separate  me 
"  Saul  and  Barnabas  for  the  work  whereunto  I  have 
''  taken  them.  Then  they,  fasting  and  praying,  and 
"  imposing  their  hands  upon  them,  sent  them  away" 
(Acts  xiii.  1-3).  Fresh  with  this  grace,  and  accom- 
panied by  St.  Mark,  who  had  joined  his  cousin,  Bar- 
nabas, they  started  upon  the  three  famous  Apostolic 
journeys^  which  make  up  St.  Paul's  missionary  career. 
In  the  island  of  Cjrprus,  which  was  soon  reached, 
they  had  the  happiness  of  receiving  into  the  Church 
the  pro-consul  or  governor.  The  name  of  this  dis- 
tinguished convert  was  Faulus,  which  some  think, 
was  adopted  by  the  Apostle  on  this  occasion.  Leaving 
Cyprus,  St.  Paul  and  his  companions  planted  the 
standard  of  the  cross  in  Perge  of  Pamphylia,  Antioch 
of  Pisidia,  Iconium,  Lystra  and  Derbe,  and  so  ended 
the  first  of  the  Apostle's  missionary  expeditions. 
-St.  Paul  was  now  resting  at  Antioch,  where  Jewish 


THE    EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL.  23T 

converts  came  pouring  in.  These  were  filled  with 
the  pride  of  their  race,  and  St.  Peter,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  in  Antioch  at  the  time,  feared  they 
would,  on  the  slightest  provocation,  revive  the 
controversy,  which  had  been  so  happily  closed 
in  the  Council  of  Jerusalem  (a.d.  51),  where 
it  was  authoritatively  decided  that  the  Mosaic 
observances  had  no  force  in  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion. To  meet  this  danger  of  again  dividing  the 
Christian  community,  St.  Peter  left  the  company 
of  the  Gentile  Christians,  and  gave  up  the  use  of 
unclean  meats,  inducing  St.  Barnabas  to  do  the 
same.  St.  Paul  regarded  this  proceeding  as  an 
indiscretion,  and  without  in  the  least  infringing  on 
the  respect  due  to  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
prince  of  the  Apostles,  mentioned  the  matter  to  him 
in  words  of  humble  remonstrance :  "I  withstood 
him  to  the  face  because  he  was  to  be  blamed.'' 
(Galatians  ii.  11).  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  referring 
to  this  incident  says:  ^^He,  St.  Peter,  forgot  his 
^'  own  dignity  for  fear  of  losing  any  degree  of 
^'  humility.  He  afterwards  commended  the  Epistles 
''of  St.  Paul  as  full  of  wisdom,  though  wo 
''  read  in  them  something  which  seems  derogatory 

,  ''  from  his  honour.     But  this  lover  of  truth  rejoiced 
''that    all    should    know   that    he   had   been  re- 

'  "  proved,   and  should  believe  the  reproof  was  just" 
(2  Homily  on  Ezechiel).  / 

In  this  a&ir  some  search  in  vain  for  an  argu- 


238  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

ment  to  support  a  fanciful  theory  in  favour  with, 
a  certain  school  of  Eationalists.  They  say  that  a 
violent  rupture  took  place  between  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  and  one  of  the  causes  which  led  to  it  was 
this  very  question  of  the  converts  to  Christianity 
being  bound  by  the  law  of  Moses.  This  difference 
was  never  healed,  they  say,  and  it  extended  to  the 
other  Apostles,  who  did  not  carry  on  a  calm  and 
friendly  dispute,  but  reviled  and  persecuted  each 
other  with  the  utmost  acrimony.  They  became  in 
fact,  two  adverse  factions — the  Pauline,  or  the 
followers  of  St.  Paul,  and  the  Pillar-Apostles^  a 
name  given  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  (ii.  9) 
to  St.  Peter,  St.  John,  and  St.  James.  But  evidence 
of  this  rupture,  and  of  these  contending  factions, 
there  is  none  in  the  present  instance.  St.  Peter 
received  this  blame  '^to  the  face"  as  perfectly 
just,  and  made  it  the  occasion  of  a  splendid  proof  of 
liis  humility,  as  St.  Augustine  reminds  us:  ^^St. 
^'  Peter  sets  an  example  of  a  more  wonderful  and 
*'  difficult  virtue.  For  it  is  a  much  easier  task  for 
"  one  to  see  what  to  reprehend  in  another,  and  to  put 
**him  in  mind  of  a  fault  than  for  us  publicly  to 
*'  acknowledge  our  own  faults  and  to  correct  them. 
^*How  heroic  a  virtue  is  it  to  be  willing  to  be 
^^  rebuked  by  another,  by  an  inferior,  and  in  sight  of 
''  the  world  "  (Homily  on  the  Galatians  ii).  There 
is  no  foundation  for  the  existence  of  this  seditious 
spirit  among  the  Apostles.     St.  Paul  himself  says : 


THE    epistles;   of    ST.    PAUL.  239 

^'  James,  and  Ceplias  and  Jolin,  who  seemed  to  be 
^^  pillars,  gave  to  me  and  Earnabas  the  right  hands 
^'  of  Fellowship  "  (Galatians  ii.  9).  / 

St.  Paul  had  now  rested  sufficiently,  and  it  was 
time  to  resume  his  second  Apostolic  journey,  St. 
Barnabas  believed  the  voice  of  God  called  him  to 
Cyprus,  where  his  cousin,  Mark,  was  to  meet  him, 
and  thus  he  and  St.  Paul,  the  partners  of  so  many 
joys  and  sorrows,  separated  at  the  call  of  duty, 
to  use  the  apt  and  graceful  remark  of  St.  John 
Chrysostom  : — ^^Both  sought  only  the  greater  glory 
^'  of  God,  and  they  parted  in  perfect  charity " 
(Homily  xxxiv.  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles). 
Shortly  after  the  Council  of  Jerusalem,  Silas,  or 
Sylvanus,  was  sent  to  assist  in  the  mission,  and 
taking  him,  together  with  St.  Timothy,  a  native  of 
Lystra,  in  Lycaonia,  St.  Paul  evangelized  the  ex- 
tensive provinces  of  Phrygia  and  Galatia.  He  now 
made  Troas  his  centre,  and  thither  St.  Luke  fol- 
lowed. This  learned  convert  conceived  a  deep 
affection  for  St.  Paul  at  Antioch,  in  Syria,  his 
native  place,  and  finding  it  growing  stronger  by 
distance,  he  left  his  home  and  the  lucrative  practice 
of  his  profession  to  share  with  the  Apostle  the  holy 
work  of  saving  souls.  / 

Prom  Troas,  St.  Paul,  accompanied  by  St.  Silas, 
St.  Timothy  and  St.  Luke,  sailed  to  Macedonia.  In 
Philippi  their  preaching  produced  a  rich  harvest,  and 
in  Thessalonica  it  won  so  many  that  it  gave  promise 


240  THE    NEW    TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

of  absorbing  the  entire  population.  The  Jews, 
therefore,  incited  the  mob  to  make  a  murderous 
assault  on  the  missionaries,  who,  by  hiding  in  the 
house  of  one  Jason,  were  able  in  the  night  to 
escape  to  the  neighbouring  city  of  Beroea.  Here 
St.  Sylvanus  took  charge,  while  St.  Timothy- 
returned  to  Thessalonica,  and  St  Paul's  own  desti- 
nation was  Athens,  face  to  face  with  the  greatest 
scholars  of  the  age  that  he  might  bring  them 
captive  to  the  saving  truth,  which  surpasseth  all 
human  understanding.  Among  the  learned  bodies 
of  Athens  were  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
who  presided  over  the  Areopagus,  and  here  St.  Paul 
ventured  to  address  them  on  the  resurrection  of  the 
body.  They  proposed  to  hear  him  a  second  time  ; 
but  these  proud  philosophers  hardened  their  hearts 
against  St.  Paul's  persuasive  reasoning,  so  that  the 
only  one  of  them,  who  had  the  courage  to  embrace 
the  Christian  faith  was  St.  Dionysius.  In  these 
circumstances  St.  Paul  turned  his  thoughts  to 
Corinth,  and  here  he  brought  his  second  Apostolic 
journey  to  a  close.  Ephesus  with  its  central  posi- 
tion, and  fine  harbour  was  the  great  mart  of 
western  Asia,  and  foreigners  came  there  in  crowds 
for  purposes  of  trade.  Here  St.  Paul  spent  a 
considerable  part  of  his  third  and  last  mission,  and 
this  was,  perhaps,  the  most ,  fruitful  period  of  his 
Apostlcship.  In  the  extraordinary  success,  which 
thus  attended  the  Gospel  in  Ephesus,  Apollo,  a 


THE    EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL.  241 

very  fervent  convert,  had  a  large  share.  He  no 
sooner  embraced  the  faith  in  Alexandria,  his  native 
city,  than  a  warm  zeal  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  filled 
his  heart,  and  coming  to  Ephesus  he  there  ''  taught 
diligently  the  things  that  are  of  Jesus "  (Acts 
xviii.  25).  / 

The  interests  of  the  Church  in  Corinth  again 
demanded  the  presence  of  St.  Paul,  and  he  set  out 
immediately,  in  company  with  his  favourite  dis- 
ciple Titus,  whom  he  had  converted  during  the 
progress  of  his  first  Apostolic  journey.  On  his 
way  back  to  Ephesus  St.  Paul  visited  Crete,  and 
made  Titus  Bishop  of  that  Church.  After  two 
years  St.  Paul  retired  from  Ephesus  leaving  St. 
Timothy  Bishop  there,  and  after  passing  through 
Macedonia  and  Greece  he  paid  a  long  farewell  visit 
to  Corinth.  Then,  seeing  that  his  life  was  no  longer 
safe  in  that  place  from  the  intense  hostility  of  the 
unbelieving  Jews,  he  left  abruptly  for  Macedonia, 
and  thence  by  ship  to  Troas.  Here  his  mission 
brought  an  immense  blessing,  for  though  it  could 
not  be  extended  beyond  a  month,  a  vast  number  of 
souls  were  converted  to  God.  1 

Erom  Troas  the  Apostle  crossed  the  JEgean  Sea, 
and  landed  at  Miletus,  a  prosperous  port  about 
thirty  miles  from  Ephesus,  where  the  clergy  of  that 
city  came,  and  understanding  that  their  beloved 
Paul  was  about  to  leave  them,  so  as  to  see  his  face 
no  more,  they  followed  him  in  a  crowd  to  the  ship, 

Q 


242  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

which  was  to  bear  him  away,  and  weeping  and  falling 
on  his  neck  they  kissed  him  (Acts  xx.  36-38). 

Csesarea  was  the  next  stage  on  the  Apostle's 
journey,  and  here  the  Prophet,  Agabus,  warned 
him  not  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  for  there  he  was 
sure  to  encounter  severe  trials.  But  St.  Paul 
would  not  turn  aside,  and  his  fearless  answer  to 
Agabus  is  worthy  of  the  great  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles.  "  I  am  ready,"  he  exclaimed,  "  not  only 
to  be  bound,  but  also  to  die  for  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ"  (Actsxxi.  13)./ 

St.  James  the  Less  was  Bishop  of  Jerusalem  at 
the  time,  and  gave  St.  Paul  a  very  kind  recep- 
tion on  his  arrival  there.  This  holy  prelate  knew 
well  that  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  entertained  enmity 
towards  St.  Paul,  and  he,  therefore,  prevailed  upon 
the  Apostle  to  disarm  their  malice  by  publicly  appear- 
ing in  the  Temple,  and  conforming  with  the  rites  of 
purification  in  obedience  to  his  Nazarite  vow.  He 
did  so,  but  the  very  sight  of  him,  even  in  carrying 
out  their  own  ritual,  goaded  the  Jews  into  such 
fury  that  they  would  have  murdered  him  had  not 
the  captain  of  the  Eoman  guard  hurried  up  and 
dispersed  the  threatening  crowd.  He  then  arrested 
St.  Paul,  but  permitted  him  to  address  the  people 
from  the  steps  of  the  castle.  This  was  done  in 
Hebrew,  with  a  power  and  eloquence  that  excited 
the  admiration  of  all  who  heard  him.  But,  as 
"  Some  of  the  Jews  gathered  together,  and  bound 


THE   EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL.  243 

''•  themselves  under  a  curse,  saying,  that  they  would 
"  neither  eat  nor  drink,  till  they  killed  Paul "  (Acts 
xxiii.  12),  he  was  sent  by  night,  under  a  strong 
escort,  to  the  Eoman  Governor  of  Caesarea,  who 
had  him  brought  up  and  unjustly  remanded  several 
times  during  two  years.  At  last,  in  the  exercise  of 
his  right  as  a  Eoman  citizen,  St.  Paul  appealed  to 
the  Emperor,  and  to  Eome  he  was  accordingly  sent, 
accompanied  by  his  dear  friends  and  fellow-labourers, 
St.  Luke  and  Aristarchus.  On  the  voyage  thither 
his  ship  was  violently  tossed  by  the  winds  and  the 
waves,  until  she  became  a  total  wreck  on  the  sands 
of  Melita  (Malta) ;  but  all  on  board  were  saved,  a 
fact  which  made  St,  Chrysostom  exclaim  :  "  Behold 
"  what  it  is  to  live  in  the  company  of  a  saint."  His 
stay  on  this  island  during  the  spring  of  a.d.  61,  St. 
Paul  turned  to  good  account  in  evangelizing  the 
inhabitants.  Prom  Malta,  St.  Paul,  still  wearing 
his  chain,  came  to  Eome,  where  he  was  allowed  to 
dwell  '^  for  two  whole  years  in  his  own  hired 
house,"  and  in  that  interval  he  made  many  distin- 
guished converts,  even  from  the  Imperial  palace  : 
^^  All  the  saints  salute  you,  especially  they  that 
^'  are  of  Caesar's  household  ''  (Philippians  iv.  22). 
Having  completed  his  first  term  of  imprisonment 
St.  Paul  is  represented  as  bringing  the  message  of 
salvation  to  Spain.  St.  Clement  I.,  who  was  then  Pope, 
states  (1  Corinthians  v.),  that  St.  Paul  penetrated 
to  the  confines  of  the  West,  which  is  supposed  to 


244  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

be  Spain,  especially  as  in  a  mutilated  document  of 
undisputed  authority,  and  given  by  Muratori  in  his 
Italian  Antiquities  of  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  854, 
mention  is  made  of  St.  Paul's  expedition  to  Spain. 
The  Apostle,  however,  is  soon  again  in  Greece 
strengthening  the  missions  there.  At  Corinth  he 
met  St.  Peter,  when  the  news  of  !N'ero's  edict 
against  the  Christians  of  Eome  reached  them, 
and  they  resolved  to  go  there  at  once  to  encourage 
their  afflicted  people.  At  Eome  St.  Paul  went 
fearlessly  to  the  post  of  danger,  and  by  his  active 
attendance  on  the  Christian  martyrs  drew  upon 
himself  the  attention  of  the  persecutors.  He  was 
sent  to  prison,  and  soon  afterwards  suffered  martyr- 
dom, in  A>D.  67  or  68.  / 

Epistle  to  the  Eomans: — In  Eome,  as  else- 
where, the  Jewish  converts  were  boasting  of  having 
deserved  the  grace  of  vocation  to  the  true  faith  and 
justification.  In  this  they  despised  their  Gentile 
brethren,  who  angrily  retorted  by  pointing  to  the 
base  ingratitude  to  God  of  which  the  Jews  had 
been  guilty,  while  their  own  fault  was  compara- 
tively a  light  one,  because  they  sinned  in  ignorance. 
After  this  fashion,  severe  reproaches  were  freely 
exchanged,  both  sides  assuming  that  they  had  a 
right  to  claim  the  blessing  of  being  in  the  true 
Church  as  merited.  It  was  to  explode  this  false 
doctrine,  as  well  as  to  remove  the  new  danger, 
arising  from  it  to  the  peace  and  growth  of  the  infant 


THE    EPISTLES    OF    ST    PAUL.  245 

Church,  that  in  a.d.  58,  St.  Paul  indited  to  the 
faithful  of  Eome  this,  the  most  doctrinal  of  his 
Epistles,  and  the  foremost  among  the  Pauline 
Epistles.  In  it  he  explains  how  justification  is  a 
gratuitous  gift,  given  by  God  through  the  merits  of 
Jesus  Christ.  He  shows  that  the  Jews  sinned  griev- 
ously against  the  law  of  Moses,  and  the  Gentiles 
against  the  law  of  nature,  so  that  both  required 
a  Eedeemer,  by  whom  all  are  sanctified  and  brought 
to  eternal  salvation  without  any  previous  merit  of 
their  own.  / 

Paith,  he  says,  is  needed,  not  as  a  meritorious 
cause,  but  a  necessary  disposition  for  the  reception 
of  this  grace  of  justification,  which  imposes  upon 
those  to  whom  it  is  given  the  obligation  of  leading 
lives,  ''not  according  to  the  flesh,  but  according  to 
the  spirit."  Let  them  therefore,  he  adds,  be 
faithful  to  this  solemn  duty,  and  most  certainly 
companionship  with  Jesus  in  heaven  will  be  their 
inheritance,  for  they  are  ''the  elect  of  God."  Such 
is  the  assurance  given  by  the  Apostle,  and  it  is  based 
on  the  doctrine  of  election: — "Por  whom  he  fore- 
"knew  he  also  predestinated  to  be  made  conformable 
"  to  the  image  of  his  son,  that  he  might  be  the  first- 
"  born  amongst  many  brethren.  And  whom  he  pre- 
"destinated,  them  he  also  called.  And  whom  he 
"called,  them  he  also  justified.  And  whom  he 
''justified,  them  he  also  glorified"  (Eomansviii.  29., 
30).    God,  who  not  only  wishes  all  men  to  be  saved, 


24Q  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

but  supplies  the  means  to  this  end,  knows  even  our 
future  free  acts  depending  on  a  condition: — ^'Wo 
^'  to  thee  Corozain,  wo  to  thee  Bethsaida ;  for  if  in 
^'  Tyre  and  Sidon  had  been  wrought  the  miracles 
*^'  that  have  been  wrought  in  you,  they  had  long  ago 
^'done  penance  in  sackcloth  and  ashes"  (Matthew 
xi.  21).  By  this  knowledge  God  is  aware  from  all 
eternity  that  a  certain  number  who  are  making  good 
use  of  His  aids  to  salvation  will  be  infallibly  saved  if 
He  helps  their  fainting  free  wills  with  a  special  grace. 
God  decrees  from  all  eternity  to  bestow  upon  them 
this  special  grace,  and  thus  He  predestinates  them  to 
eternal  life.  The  giving  of  this  special  grace  is 
entirely  independent  of  any  claim  on  the  part  of  the 
elect,  but  their  crown  of  glory  in  the  end  is  regarded 
by  some  Catholic  theologians  as  a  reward  for  good 
and  faithful  servicCj  and  not  at  all  gratuitous  or 
given  without  merit.  It  must  be^also  observed  that 
God  does  not  give  this  special  and  gratuitous  assist- 
ance except  to  those  whom  He  foresees  performing 
good  works,  that  is  making  good  use  of  the  means 
supplied  to  them  gratuitously  by  Him  to  work  out 
their  salvation.  / 

St.  Paul  pronounces  the  Jews  as  a  body  to  be 
excluded  from  this  justification  because  of  their  per- 
sistent and  perverse  rejection  of  the^  Gospel.  At  the 
end  of  the  world,  however,  when  the  measure  of 
the  Gentile  conversion  shall  be  filled  up,  Israel  will 
believe  and  be  saved : — *'  For  I  would  not  have  you 


THE   EPISTLES   OF    ST.    PAUL.  247 

^  ignorant,  brethren,  of  this  mystery  (lest  you  should 
^^be  wise  in  your  own  conceits)  that  blindness  in 
'^part  has  happened  in  Israel,  until  the  fulness  of 
'^the  Gentiles  should  come  in''  (Eomans  xi.  25). 

This  important  exposition  of  faith  was  most 
fittingly  addressed  to  the  converts  at  Eome,  because 
they  belonged  to  the  mighty  centre  from  which  all 
the  nations  of  the  world  were  directed.  Eome  too, 
possessed  the  premier  Church  of  Christendom,  since 
it  was  founded  by  St.  Peter  himself  (Irenseus  against 
Heresies,  Book  YII^  chapter  6),  and  had  already 
attained  to  a  flourishing  condition. 

First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  : — Among  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul  this  to  the  Corinthians  is  placed 
second  in  the  !N'ew  Testament,  because  in  the 
importance  of  the  subject  and  the  position  of  the 
persons  addressed,  it  is  second  only  to  the  Epistle  to 
the  Eomans.  / 

When  St.  Paul  was  at  Ephesus  about  a.d.  57, 
prosecuting  his  third  Apostolic  journey,  he  heard 
that  an  eifort  was  being  made  by  some  among  the 
Corinthian  converts  to  divide  the  seamless  robe  of 
Christ  by  creating  a  dissentient  element  within  the 
Catholic  body  on  the  pretence  of  following  favourite 
preachers.  Condemning  this  he  wrote : — "  The 
'^  foolish  things  of  the  world  hath  God  chosen  that 
''  He  may  confound  the  wise ;  and  the  weak  things 
'^  of  the  world  hath  God  chosen  that  He  may  con- 
^4ound  the  strong"  (1  Corinthians  i.  27).      And  in 


248  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

order  to  show  the  magnitude  of  this  evil  he  ex- 
plains the  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  the  Church 
by  the  familiar  illustration  of  the  consummate  har- 
mony existing  between  the  members  of  the  human 
body.  The  antidote  he  offers  against  this  tendency 
towards  division  is  charity,  which  he  eulogises  in 
brilliant  laoguage. 

Turning  then  to  the  luxurious  habits  of  these 
Corinthians  the  Apostle  pronounces  the  sentence  of 
excommunication  on  one  who  was  living  publicly 
in  incest.  Warning  them  against  the  sin  of  the 
flesh  he  tells  them  to  put  on  the  snow-white  robes  of 
purity,  and  urges  this  in  a  train  of  reasoning  that 
is  very  beautiful : — "  Know  you  not  that  your 
bodies  are  the  members  of  Christ  .  .  . "  (1  Corin- 
thians vi.  15-20).  This  brought  St.  Paul  to  discuss 
the  relative  merits  of  virginity  and  matrimony  in 
answer  to  a  request  forwarded  to  him  by  this  people. 
He  extols  the  excellence  of  marriage,  but  declares 
it  to  be  inferior  to  the  state  of  virginity  (1  Corin- 
thians vii.  1-9)./ 

Lastly,  to  spur  the  Corinthians  to  their  duty 
in  these  particulars,  the  Apostles  sets  forth  the 
cheering  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  :  — 
"Behold  I  tell  you  a  mystery.  We  shall  all  indeed 
"  rise  again  ;  but  we  shall  not  all  be  changed.  .  .  . 
"And  when  this  mortal  hath  put  on  immortality, 
"  then  shall  come  to  pass  the  saying  that  is  written  : 
^^  Death  is  stvallowed  up  in  victor y,     0  death^  tvhere 


THE    EPISTLES   OF    ST.    PAUL.  249 

^Hs  thy  victory?  0  death,  where  is  thy  sting  V 
(1  Corintliians  xv.  51-55).  / 

Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians: — Towards 
the  end  of  this  same  year  a.d.  57,  St.  Paul  sent 
Titus  to  Corinth,  in  order  to  ascertain  on  the  spot 
the  effect  produced  by  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, and  thence  to  come  on  direct  to  Troas. 
Titus  announced  that  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians wrought  a  most  marked  change  for  the 
better  on  that  people.  This  he  said,  was  the  more 
consoling,  because  certain  jealous  intruders  did  all 
they  could  to  poison  the  minds  of  the  Corinthian 
converts  generally  against  the  Epistle.  To  ex- 
pose their  fraud  and  malice  the  Second  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  was  written,  which  opens  with 
sentiments  of  the  tenderest  charity  towards  this 
erring  people : — ''  For  out  of  much  affliction  and 
^^  anguish  of  heart,  I  wrote  to  you  with  many 
*^ tears;  not  that  you  should  be  made  sorrowful, 
'^but  that  you  might  know  the  charity  I  have 
^'more  abundantly  towards  you"  (2nd  Epist.  to  the 
Corinthians  ii.  4).  The  writer  goes  on  to  tell  them 
that  he  adopted  a  severe  tone  in  his  first  Epistle 
that  a  bitter  draught  might  work  a  cure,  and  the 
result  was  as  he  anticipated  (2  Corinthians  vii.  8,  9).  / 

To  his  labours  he  now  turns  (2  Corinthians  xi. 
24-31)  in  no  spirit  of  vain  boasting,  but  to  defend 
the  honour  of  Jesus  Christ  whose  Apostle  he  thus 
fearlessly  asserted  himself  to  be.    The  false  teachers, 


250  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

who  had  been  calumniating  him,  he  denounced  with 
terrible  severity: — ^^For  such  false  Apostles  are 
''  deceitful  workmen,  transforming  themselves  into 
^^the  Apostles  of  Christ.  And  no  wonder;  for 
^'  Satan  himself  transformeth  himself  into  an  angel 
^^of  light"  (2  Corinthians  xi.  13,  14).  And  he 
concludes  by  expressing  a  strong  hope  of  seeing 
them  very  soon,  but  in  the  meantime  : — '^  I 
''write  these  things,  being  absent,  that,  being  pre- 
''  sent,  I  may  not  deal  more  severely,  according  to 
''the  power  which  the  Lord  hath  given  me  unto 
"  edification,  and  not  unto  destruction.  For  the  rest, 
"  brethren,  rejoice,  be  perfect,  take  exhortation,  be 
"  of  one  mind,  have  peace ;  and  the  God  of  peace 
"and  of  love  shall  be  with  yau  .  .  .  The  grace  of 
"  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  charity  of  God, 
"  and  the  communication  of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  with 
"  you  all.     Amen"  (2  Corinthians  xiii.  10-13).  / 

Epistle  to  the  Galatians  : — The  most  prominent 
figure  in  the  religion's  traditions  of  the  Ephesians 
was  the  goddess,  Diana.  The  story  was  that 
Jupiter  with  his  own  hands  made  a  colossal  statue 
of  this  his  favourite  daughter,  and  dropped  it  from 
heaven  into  Ephesus,  which  he  had  chosen  to  be 
the  city  specially  devoted  to  her  worship.  The 
Ephesians  in  their  gratitude  built  a  temple,  worthy 
of  their  sacred  trust,  and  thither  pilgrims  flocked, 
while  every  one  of  this  immense  pagan  throng 
procured  a  small  silver  model  of   the   miraculous 


THE    EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL.  251 

statue  of  the  goddess,  so  that  there  was  a  brisk  sale 
for  these  articles.  It  is  not  hard,  therefore,  to 
realize  the  keen  sense  of  wrong  that  seized  this 
people  against  St.  Paul,  when  they  began  to  per- 
ceive that  his  preaching  there  was  fast  reducing 
their  profits.  Their  resentment  knew  no  bounds, 
and  Demetrius,  a  leader  amongst  them,  by  his 
inflammatory  harangues  succeeded  in'  lashing  the 
Ephesians  into  great  fury  against  the  Apostle. 
Men  ran  about  wildly,  mingling  threats  of  death  to 
him,  with  the  fierce  shouts  of : — ''  Great  is  Diana  of 
the  Ephesians."  It  was  when  this  imminent  danger 
to  his  life  had  passed  that  St.  Paul  heard  at 
Ephesus  that  an  organized  attempt  was  being  made 
in  Galatia  to-  rob  the  people  of  their  faith  by 
inducing  them  to  embrace  the  errors  of  Judaism. 
The  authors  of  this  were  designing  Jews  from 
Palestine,  who  tried  to  persuade  the  simple-minded 
Galatians  that  St.  Paul,  from  whom  they  had  just 
received  the  Gospel,  was  no  divinely-appointed 
Apostle,  but  an  impostor  who  quarrelled  with  St. 
Peter  on  the  question  of  circumcision.  St.  Paul 
immediately  wrote  to  the  Galatians  the  most  inci- 
sive of  his  Epistles.  After  vindicating  his  Apostle- 
ship  he  tells  them  that  even  to  have  listened  to 
the  false  statements  of  his  relentless  enemies  was 
evidence  of  their  inconstancy.  He  censures  this 
weakness  with  much  emphasis,  and  to  fortify  them 
against  it  in  future  he  lays  down  that  salvation  can 


252  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

be  obtained  not  by  the  precepts  of  the  ceremonial  law 
of  the  Jews,  but  by  faith  in  Christ.  This  is  the  true 
faith  which  he  taught  them,  and  he  declares  :  — 
"  Though  we  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach  a 
"  Gospel  to  you  besides  that  which  we  have  preached 
^'to  you,  let  him  be  anathema"  (Galatians  i.  8). 
Upon  the  truths  of  this  saving  faith  there  is  no  dif- 
ference, he  says,  between  himself  and  the  other 
Apostles,  and,  touching  his  remonstrance  to  St. 
Peter  at  Antioch,  he  gives  a  true  account  of  that 
incident.  In  conclusion,  he  points  out  how  Christ 
had  emancipated  them  from  the  servitude  of  the 
Mosaic  law,  and  he  exhorts  them  therefore,  ^'to 
"  stand  fast,  and  be  not  held  again  under  the  yoke 
"  of  bondage  .  .  .  for  in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circum- 
''  cision  availeth  anything,  nor  uncircumcision  ;  but 
"faith  that  worketh  by  charity"  (Galatians  v.  1-6)./ 

Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  : — It  was  during  St. 
Paul's  first  imprisonment  at  Eome  (a.d.  62),  that 
Epaphras,  Bishop  of  Colossa,  came  to  comfort  the 
Apostle  in  his  chains.  The  holy  prelate  in  the 
course  of  his  visit  mentioned  that  some  designing 
Jews  contrived  to  insinuate  themselves  among  his 
flock,  and  attempted  to  weaken  theii'  faith  by  repre- 
senting that  it  was  necessary  to  observe  the  Mosaic 
ordinances,  and  that  the  great  mystery  of  the  Ee- 
demption  had  been  effected  not  by  Christ  but  by 
angels.  St.  Paul  suspected  that  the  false  teachers,  who 
had  done  so  much  harm  in  Colossa,  were  sure  to  make 


THE    EPISTLES   OF   ST.    PAUL.  253 

their  way  to  Ephesus,  and  he  immediately  set  about 
his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  to  secure  the  faith  of 
that  large  and  important  Church  from  this  threatened 
invasion.  The  beginning  or  doctrinal  part  of  his 
letter  is  devoted  chiefly  to  Eedemption,  justification, 
predestination,  and  in  the  end  or  moral  part,  the 
Apostle  dwells  on  the  unity,  charity,  obedience, 
humility,  and  other  virtues  demanded  by  the  profes- 
sion of  the  Christian  faith.  His  exposition  of  the 
unity  of  the  Church  (iv.  11-17),  and  of  the  sanctity 
as  well  as  mystical  signification  of  marriage  (v.  22, 
23),  is  given  with  great  force.  / 

Epistle  to  the  Fhilipeians  :■. — It  was  probably 
in  some  part  of  a.d.  63,  that  St.  Paul  at  Eome 
was  gladdened  by  the  gateful  action  of  the  Philip- 
pians,  who  were  the  best  fruits  of  his  mission  in 
Macedonia.  They  sent  their  devoted  Bishop,  Epa- 
phroditus,  to  tell  him,  how  deeply  they  felt  for  his 
sufferings.  In  delivering  this  welcome  message, 
Epaphroditus,  accompanied  it  with  a  good  report  of 
the  faithful  of  his  diocese.  There  was,  however,  a 
spirit  of  dissension  beginning  to  show  itself,  due 
partly  to  pride,  and  partly  to  the  unbelieving 
Jewish  emissaries,  who  were  trying  to  tamper  with 
their  faith.  To  stop  this  mischief,  and  to  recall 
this  earnest  people  to  their  fervour,  St.  Paul  wrote 
his  Epistle  to  them.  It  contains  a  tender  acknow- 
ledgment of  their  loving  sympathy,  and  an  expres- 
sion of  his  sincere  hope  that  he  may  soon  be  free  to 


254  THE   NEW   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

come  and  thank  them  in  person.  He  congratulates 
them  on  what  he  heard,  from  their  beloved  Bishop, 
of  their  edifying  obedience  to  the  duties  of  religion, 
and  prays  fervently  that  they  may  persevere  in 
this  holy  course,  so  as  to  reach  that  state  of  per- 
fection, which  he  briefly  sketches.  They  must 
remember  always,  he  adds,  that  salvation  is  not 
from  the  law  of  Moses,  but  from  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  therefore,  to  encourage  in  any  way 
the  advances  of  those  false  teachers,  who  were 
going  about  amongst  them,  would  render  them 
grievously  at  fault.  They  must  fight  the  good 
fight  after  his  own  example,  and  their  reward  will 
be  eternal.  / 

Epistle  to  the  Colossians  : — The  false  doctrines 
against  which  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  was 
directed,  were  being  actively  propagated  by  Jewish 
emissaries  among  the  faithful  of  Colossa.  The  news 
saddened  the  heart  of  St.  Paul,  who  was  a  prisoner 
in  Eome  at  the  time,  and  in  his  anxious  solici- 
tude he  wrote  his  Epistle  to  the  Colossians.  In  it 
he  goes  over  the  same  ground  as  that  covered  by 
the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  namely,  the  necessity 
of  faith  in  Christ  Jesus : — '^  In  whom  we  have 
^^  redemption  through  His  blood,  the  remission  of 
*^sins"  (Colossians  i.  14),  and  he  seals  this  with 
the  following  admonition  : — ''  Beware  lest  any  man 
"  cheat  you  by  philosophy,  and  vain  deceit,  accord- 
*^  ing   to  the  tradition   of   men,  according  to   the 


THE    EPISTLES   OF    ST.    PAUL.  255 

''  elements   of    the    world,    and   not   according  to 
"Christ"  (Colossians  ii.  8)./ 

First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  : — Thessa- 
lonica,  which  St.  Paul  evangelized  in  the  course  of 
his  second  Apostolic  mission,  was  most  devoted  to 
his  teaching.  Its  first  pastor  was  St.  Timothy,  who 
visited  Corinth  to  see  St.  Paul  there  about  a.d.  53 
or  54,  and  assured  him  that  the  Thessalonians 
dearly  cherished  his  memory,  and  wished  to  see 
him  once  more  among  them.  The  first  Epistle  to 
the  Thessalonians  is  an  acknowledgment  of  their 
tender  message,  and  in  point  of  time  is  the  first  of 
the  Pauline  Epistles.  In  it  St.  Paul,  after  offering 
his  warmest  congratulations  to  this  fervent  people 
on  their  unswerving  fidelity  to  the  faith  in  such 
troubled  times,  reciprocates  the  kind  assurances  con- 
veyed to  him  by  their  good  bishop.  He  promises 
to  take  an  early  opportunity  of  coming  to  Thessa- 
lonica,  but  in  the  meantime  earnestly  exhorts  them 
to  persevere  in  the  exercise  of  charity  towards  one 
another.  He  concludes  by  instructing  them  as  to 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead  and  the  time  of  the  judg- 
ment, about  which  they  were  unduly  agitated.  They 
ought  to  remember,  he  says,  that  the  loving  ones, 
whose  death  they  mourn  with  an  excessive  grief, 
seeing  that  they  departed  in  peace  with  God  will 
rise  again  in  a  more  glorious  state  to  dwell  for  ever 
in  heaven  (Thessalonians  iv.  12-17).  Then,  as  to 
the  "  day  of  the  Lord,"  it  is  idle,  he  says,  to  specu- 


256  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

late,  for  the  only  thing  certain  is  that  it  will  come 
^^  as  a  thief  in  the  night."  But  they  must  not  lose 
heart  at  this  provided  they  make  their  lives  in 
harmony  with  the  precepts  and  counsels  he  gives 
them.  / 

The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessaloxians  : — 
The  faithful  of  Thessalonica  were  deeply  touched  by 
the  tender  solicitude  which  the  Apostle  evinced 
towards  them  in  this  letter,  when  their  minds  were 
again  unsettled  by  a  document,  circulated  under  the 
name  of  St.  Paul,  announcing  in  language  full  of 
panic  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  imminent. 
This  was  the  work  of  an  impostor,  and  when  the 
apostle  knew  of  its  existence  he  effectually  exposed 
the  base  deceit  in  his  second  Epistle  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians.  He  was  grieved  he  said,  at  the  wicked 
imposition  practised  upon,  them,  and  without  losing 
a  moment  he  wished  to  re-assure  them  by  letter 
that  their  fears  about  the  last  day  being  near  at 
hand  were  groundless.  It  would  not  come  unex- 
pectedly, but  be  duly  heralded  by  certain  events 
preceded  by  ^^the  man  of  sin"  (2  Thessalonians 
ii.  3).  Instead  of  permitting  themselves,  therefore, 
to  be  affrighted  by  phantoms  they  must  endeavour 
to  be  earnest  in  the  performance  of  their  duties. 
Then  follows  an  eloquent  exhortation  to  avoid  asso- 
ciating with  sinners,  and  to  ^^hold  the  traditions 
^' which  you  have  learned,  whether  by  word,  or  by 
*'  our  Epistle  "  (2  Thessalonians  ii.  14).  v 


THE    EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL.  257 

The  Two  Epistles  to  Timothy,  and  One  to 
Titus  : — The  conflagration,  kindled  by  the  silver- 
smiths in  Ephesus,  though  quenched  in  the  flame 
still  lived  in  the  embers.  •  Under  these  circum- 
stances St.  Paul  thought  it  wise  for  the  present  to 
withdraw  to  Macedonia  and  appoint  St.  Timothy 
Bishop  of  Ephesus.  This  holy  disciple,  though 
unwilling  to  accept  the  burthen  of  the  episcopal 
office,  obeyed  the  command  of  his  superior  without 
a  murmur,  as  Titus  did  shortly  before  when  pro- 
moted to  the  see  of  Crete.  St.  Paul  loved  these 
two  young  bishops  with  a  strong  affection,  and  now 
that  he  saw  them  weighed  down  with  the  heavy 
responsibilities  which  his  hands  had  imposed  upon 
them,  he  resolved  to  strengthen  and  console  them  by 
reasonable  encouragement  and  advice.  This  he  did 
by  Epistles  respectively  addressed  to  these  two  pre- 
lates, one  to  St.  Timothy,  being  written  from  Mace- 
donia, and  a  second  afterwards  from  behind  his  prison 
bars  at  Eome.  These  Epistles,  especially  the  one  to 
Titus  and  the  first  to  Timothy  were  evidently  written 
hastily,  for  they  have  not  that  finish  and  idiomatic 
ease  that  marked  other  writings  of  the  Apostle. 
They  are  truly  the  earnest  expression  of  a  heart 
burning  with  a  tender  love,  and  are  known  as  his 
pastoral  letters,  because  in  them  he  holds  up  the 
mirror  to  the  good  and  faithful  pastor,  as  St.  Agus- 
tine  remarks  in  Book  iv.,  ch.  xvi.  of  his  work  on 
Christian  Doctrine : — ^^  The  man  engaged  in  the  work 


258  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

"  of  saving  souls  ought  to  meditate  on  these  Epistles 
^'  day  and  night."    The  apostle  assures  Saints  Timo- 
thy and  Titus  that  the   burden  of   the  episcopal 
office  will  have  no  terrors  for  them,   provided  they 
attend,    above   all,   to   their   own  holiness  of  life. 
Without  a  solid  substratum  of  personal  sanctity, 
abilities  of  the  highest  order  can  effect  but  little 
towards  the  saving  of  souls.      A  pastor  may   be 
gifted  with  remarkable   natural  endowments,    he 
may    be    an  erudite   theologian,  deeply  versed  in 
ecclesiastical  and  secular  learning,   and  may  have 
devoted  a  vast  amount  of  time  to  various  works  of 
the  ministry,  but  all  this  will  not  suffice  unless  the 
Lord  give   the   increase,  and  most  assuredly  God 
will  not  bless  the  work  of  any  one  unless  he  is  per- 
fect in  the  spirit  of  holiness.    So  too  a  pastor  may  be 
filled  with  zeal  in  hearing  confessions,  preaching, 
cathechizing,  visiting    schools,    building  churches, 
attending  to  the  sick.     He  may  be  most  devoted  to 
all  these  admirable  duties,  and  neglect  the  work  of 
his  own  personal  sanctification.   But  how  is  this  to  be 
attained  ?     Chiefly  by  mental  and  vocal  prayer  : — 
^^  Meditate,"   St.  Paul  writes  to   Timothy,  "upon 
"  these  things,  be  wholly  in  these  things :  that  thy 
"profiting  may  be  manifest  to  all"  (1  Timothy  iv.  15), 
and  in  another  place : — "I  will,  therefore,  that  men 
"pray  in  every  place,  lifting  up  pure  hands  without 
"anger  and  contention"  (1  Timothy  ii.  8)./ 

Another  powerful  means  for  quickening  this  spirit 


THE   EPISTLES   OF    ST.    PAUL.  259 

of  holiness  is  a  persistent  and  untiring  application  to 
«tudy.  !N'ot  only  has  it  a  refining  influence  on  the 
individual,  but  it  draws  away  the  mind  from  things 
which  will  harm  it  to  objects  of  a  rational  nature.  It 
creates  in  most  persons  a  disgust  and  abhorrence  tow- 
ards excesses,  which  otherwise  would  drag  men  under 
their  influence.  And  what  is  peculiarly  beneflcial  to 
a  minister  of  God,  reading  generates  in  him  a  hatred 
for  the  miserable  tone  of  conversation  which  obtains 
in  the  world,  and  no  man  can  feel  the  want  of  society, 
who  has  a  fondness  for  good  books.  St.  Timothy 
is,  therefore,  exhorted  to:  ^'Attend  unto  reading, 
'^^  to  exhortation,  and  to  doctrine  "  (1  Timothy  ix.  13), 
and  even  the  particular  kind  of  study  is  suggested : 
^'  And  because  from  thy  infancy  thou  hast  known 
*'  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  can  instruct  thee  to 
^'  salvation,  by  the  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
'^'AU  Scripture,  inspired  by  God,  is  profitable  to 
'^^  teach,  to  reprove,  to  correct,  to  instruct  injustice, 
^'  That  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  furnished  to 
'^'  every  good  work  "  (1  Timothy  iii.  15-17).  / 

But  the  good  pastor  must  be  active  also,  ever 
labouring: — "Labour  as  a  good  soldier  of  Christ 
"Jesus"  (2  Timothy  ii.  3),  and  again: — "I  charge 
"  thee  before  God  and  Jesus  Christ  .  .  .  preach  the 
^'  word,  be  instant  in  season,  out  of  season ;  reprove, 
^^ entreat,  rebuke,  in  all  patience  and  doctrine" 
(2  Timothy  iv.  1,  2).  There  is  also  a  special  admoni- 
tion against  avarice  : — "  But  godliness  with  content- 


260  THE   NEW   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

"  ment  is  great  gain.  For  we  brought  nothiiig  into 
"  tliis  world,  and  certainly  we  can  carry  nothing  out. 
^'But  having  food  and  wherewith  to  be  covered, 
*^with  these  we  are  content"  (1  Timothy  vi.  6-8). 
The  Epistle  to  Titus  is  written  on  the  same  lines  as 
the  two  Epistles  to  Timothy. 

Epistle  to  Philemon  : — St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians  mentions  that  he  forwarded  it  by 
Tychicus  : — '^  Our  dearest  brother  and  faithful 
"minister,  and  fellow  servant  in  the  Lord  .  .  . 
"  whom  I  have  sent  to  you  for  this  same  purpose, 
"that  he  may  know  the  things  that  concern  you 
"and  comfort  your  hearts"  (Colossians  iv.  8). 
Under  protection  of  Tychicus  St.  Paul  also  sent 
Onesimus,  just  converted  by  him  in  Eome.  This 
was  a  poor  slave  who  ran  away  from  his  master, 
Philemon,  a  respectable  citizen  of  Colossce,  to  whom 
he  is  now  restored  by  the  Apostle  with  a  tender 
appeal  in  his  Epistle  to  Fliilemon^  to  receive  back 
Onesimus  into  his  service  and  treat  him  kindly : — 
"Not  now  as  a  servant,  but  instead  of  a  servant,  a 
"most  dear  brother."/ 

Epistle  to  the  Hebrews: — This  Epistle  was 
written  by  St.  Paul  in  his  prison  cell  at  Eome 
shortly  before  his  martp^dom  in  a.d.  67  or  68.  The 
Hebrews  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  though  they  had 
embraced  the  Christian  faith,  were  stubbornly  in- 
sisting upon  the  doctrine  that  any  convert  to  Chris- 
tianity, in  order  to  be  saved,  must  enter  the  Church 


THE    EPISTLES    OF    ST.    PAUL.  261 

through,  the  door  of  the  Mosaic  ceremonies.  This 
contention  was  false,  and  calculated  to  deter  num- 
bers of  Gentiles  from  becoming  Christians,  so  that 
St.  Paul  deemed  it  necessary  to  set  them  right.  At 
the  same  time  to  make  the  faith  of  these  Jewish 
converts  strong  in  the  face  of  sore  and  pressing  trials, 
he  places  before  them  in  striking  contrast  the  infi- 
nite superiority  of  the  Christian  over  the  Mosaic 
dispensation.  The  Jewish  religion,  he  points  out, 
was  promulgated  by  Moses,  its  high  priest  was 
mortal  and  ]Deccable,  its  sacrifices  were  mere  figures 
and  ineffectual  to  cancel  sin,  but  Jesus  is  not  only 
the  author  of  the  Gospel ;  He  is  the  victim  of  its 
sacrifice,  and  His  blood  washeth  away  the  sins  of  the 
world.  / 

In  the  last  chapter  he  asks  them  to  "  Pray  for  us. 
^^For  we  trust  wo  have  a  good  conscience,  being 
''willing  to  behave  ourselves  well  in  all  things. 
''  And  I  beseech  you  the  more  to  do  this  that  I  may 
^'be  restored  to  you  the  sooner  "  (Hebrews  xiii.  18, 
19).  The  hope  of  release  so  fondly  expressed  here 
was  never  realised,  for  the  Apostle  soon  after 
received  his  martyr's  crown.  / 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE    SEVEN   CATHOLIC   EPISTLES. 

St.  James,  the  Less — His  Epistle— St.  Peter — His  first  and  second: 
Epistles— First,  second,  and  third  Epistles  of  St.  John— Epistle  of 
St.  Jude. 

The  name  Catholic  Epistles  was  adopted  in  the- 
Churcli  from  the  time  of  Eusebius,  the  historian, 
to  indicate  those  New  Testament  books,  which 
were,  with  the  exception  of  the  second  and  third 
Epistles  of  St.  John,  addressed  to  the  faithful 
throughout  the  world. 

The  Epistle  op  St.  James  the  Apostle  : — 
According  to  St.  Augustine  this  epistle  was  an 
answer  to  false  conclusions,  drawn  from  the  epistle 
to  the  Romans  (iii.  28),  and  the  epistle  to  the 
Galatians  (iii.  8-11).  ISTow,  the  date  of  these 
Scriptures  was  a.d.  58,  and  St.  James  the  Greater, 
suffered  martyrdom  in  a.d.  54,  so  that  the  wi'iter  of 
this  Epistle  must  be  St.  James,  sometimes  called 
"the  brother  of  the  Lord"  (Galatians  i.  19).  It 
was  common  among  the  Jews  to  speak  of  near 
blood-relations  as  brothers  : — "  Is  not  this  the  car- 
"penter's  son?     Is  not  his  mother  called  Mary,  and 


THE    SEVEN    CATHOLIC   EPISTLES.  263 

"  his  brethren  James,  and  Joseph,  and  Simon,  and 
''  Jude  "  (Mathew  xiii.  55).  / 

St.  James,  '^the  brother  of  the  Lord,"  was  sur- 
named  the  Less^  to  distinguish  him  from  St.  James, 
the  Greater.  !N'ot  only  does  St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians  (ii.  9),  speak  of  him  as  one  of  the 
Apostles  '^who  seemed  to  be  pillars;"  but  his  emi- 
nent sanctity  gained  for  him  the  title  of  the  Just. 
The  popular  voice  nominated  him  the  first  Bishop 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  other  Apostles  ratified  the 
people's  choice,  especially  as  it  was  believed  that 
Jesus  had  designated  St.  James  for  this  position.  The 
cares  of  the  high  office  only  served  to  quicken  his 
zeal,  and  converts  were  won  from  Judaism  in  such 
numbers,  that  Annas,  the  High  Priest,  determined 
to  put  him  to  death.  This  Annas  Avas  son  of  the 
High  Priest  of  the  same  name,  who  condemned 
Jesus,  and  the  Eoman  Governor  being  dead,  before 
a  new  one  could  be  appointed,  he,  as  High  Priest, 
had  the  Apostle  brought  before  him  and  sentenced 
him  to  be  stoned  to  death.  He  was  led  out  to  the 
battlements  of  the  Temple,  when,  stepping  for- 
ward, he  Avas  in  the  act  of  making  a  profession  of 
faith,  when  the  executioners  hurled  him  from  one 
of  the  lofty  pinnacles  to  the  pavement  below.  Still 
breathing,  St.  James  raised  himself  up  into  a 
kneeling  posture,  and  while  praying  aloud  for  his 
murderers,  one  of  them,  rushing  upon  him,  crushed 
his  skull  with  a  clubbed  staff.  / 


264  THE    NEW    TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

St.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  (iii.  28) 
says : — '^  For  we  account  a  man  to  be  justified  by 
''faith  without  the  works  of  the  law;"  and  in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians  (iii.  2),  ''But  that  in  the 
"  law  no  man  is  justified  with  God  it  is  manifest : 
"because  the  just  man  liveth  by  faith."  The 
Apostle  is  here  combatting  the  erroneous  doctrine, 
that  the  observance  of  the  outward  ceremonies  en- 
joined by  the  Old  Law  is  necessary  for  one  to  be 
accounted  righteous  in  the  sight  of  God.  He 
meets  this  assumption  by  an  emphatic  statement 
to  the  effect  that  faith  alone  in  Jesus  Christ 
justifies,  because  through  it  our  works  are  ren- 
dered meritorious  of  eternal  life.  This  declaration 
of  St.  Paul  to  the  Eomans  and  Galatians  was,  how- 
ever, distorted  by  the  Jewish  converts  into  an  argu- 
ment that  it  was  sufficient  in  order  to  be  accounted 
just  before  God  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  to  have  ab- 
stract faith  in  the  Saviour  without  performing  works 
of  any  kind.  St.  James  in  his  Epistle  shows  this  was 
a  false  meaning  to  attach  to  these  words  of  the  great 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  for  abstract  faith  is  dead, 
whereas  the  true  Christian  faith  is  living,  being  ani- 
mated by  good  works: — "Do  you  see  that  by  works 
"a  man  is  justified,  and  not  by  faith  only"  (James 
ii.  24).  St.  James  contended  against  one  dangerous 
doctrine  of  the  converted  Jews,  and  St.  Paul  against 
another,  while  both  advocated  the  necessity  of  good 
works.      St.  Paul  insisted  that  the  works  of  the 


THE    SEVEN    CATHOLIC    EPISTLES.  265 

Mosaic  dispensation  are  inefEectual  towards  justi- 
fication, because  faith  in  Jesus  Clirist  alone  can 
render  our  works  meritorious  of  eternal  life.  St. 
James  in  his  Epistle  teaches  that  the  Christian  faith 
is  essentially  active,  confirmed  by  good  works,  and 
this  is  exactly  the  same  doctrine  as  that  enunciated 
by  St.  Paul  from  a  different  standpoint,  so  that 
there  is  no  opposition  between  the  teaching  of  the 
two  Apostles.  / 

The  First  and  Second  Epistles  of  St.  Peter: — 
When  St.  John  the  Baptist,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan,  made  use  in  reference  to  our  Blessed  Lord 
of  these  words : — "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  be^ 
"  hold  Him  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world" 
{John  i.  29),  St.  Andrew  being  present,  was  so 
deeply  impressed  that  he  at  once  followed  Jesus. 
His  brother,  Simon,  soon  joined,  and  Christ  greeted 
him: — -''Thou  art  Simon  the  son  of  Jona,  thou 
"  shalt  be  called  Cephas,  which  is  interpreted 
"Peter"  (John  i.  42).  The  humble  fisherman  of 
Galilee  was  thus  favoured  with  a  prophetic  intima- 
tion of  the  exalted  position  to  which  he  was  destined, 
namely,  to  be  head  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  / 

The  two  brothers,  though  obliged  to  toil  in  the 
Lake  of  Genesareth,  in  Upper  Galilee,  day  after 
day  for  their  support,  were  now  assiduous  in  their 
attendance  on  Him,  whom  they  regarded  as  the 
Messias,  when  one  morning  Jesus  stepping  into 
their  boat  told  Simon  and  Andrew  to  row  out  into 


2Q6 


THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 


the  deep  and  lower  their  nets,  for  He  knew  they 
had  caught  nothing  during  the  night.  To  their 
amazement  the  draught  of  fish  taken  was  so  large 
that  not  being  able  to  secure  it,  they  signalled 
for  help  to  James  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee, 
who  were  engaged  close  by,  and  the  two  boats  were 
filled.  This  miracle  was  intended  to  convey  to  the 
Apostles  the  success  that  would  attend  their  mission 
of  saving  souls.  For  when  Simon,  overwhelmed 
with  gratitude,  fell  upon  his  knees,  his  Divine 
Master  said  to  him,  ^'  Fear  not :  from  henceforth 
"  thou  shalt  catch  men  "  (Luke  v.  10),  and  at  the 
same  moment,  not  only  Simon  and  his  brother 
Andrew,  but  James  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee, 
were  called  to  the  Apostolate.  The  incident  is  also 
related  by  St.  Matthew  (iv.  18-22),  and  by  St. 
Mark  (i.  16-20) ;  but  it  is  St.  Luke  who  gives  most 
particulars,  adding: — "And  having  brought  their 
"  ships  to  land,  leaving  all  things,  they  followed 
"Him"  (St.  Luke  v.  11).  Again  at  Cesarea 
Philippi  Jesus  asked  the  Apostles,  ''  "Whom  do  you 
"say  that  I  am?"  (Matthew  xvi.  15).  St.  Peter 
answered,  "Thou  art  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
"  God  "  (Matthew  xvi.  16),  and  he  was  rewarded 
with  the  primacy  (Matthew  xvi.  18,  19),  that  is  the 
supreme  power  of  governing  the  whole  flock — 
pastors  and  people  (John  xxi.  16,  17).  \ 

Our  Lord's  three  years  of  active  ministry  had 
now   drawn    to    a    close,    when  He  went   up  to 


THE    SEVEN    CATHOLIC    EPISTLES.  26T 

Jerusalem  to  celebrate  the  Pasch  in  the  Temple^ 
While  there,  sitting  one  evening  in  the  midst  of' 
His  Apostles,  He  made  them  sorrowful  by  an- 
nouncing the  beginning  of  His  Passion  for  that 
very  night,  when  His  o^vn  trusted  disciples  would 
turn  their  backs  upon  Him.  St.  Peter,  carried 
away  by  his  feelings  and  leaning  solely  upon  him- 
self, made  this  protestation,  ''  Although  all  shall  be 
"  scandalized  in  Thee,  yet  not  I "  (Mark  xiv. 
29).  Jesus  to  teach  even  one,  who  was  to 
be  the  head  of  His  Church,  the  forcible  but 
wholesome  lesson  of  not  relying  solely  on  his 
own  powers,  spoke  to  him  thus : — ''  Amen  I  say 
*'to  thee,  to-day  even  in  this  night,  before  the  cock 
^^  crow  twice,  thou  shalt  deny  Me  thrice"  (Mark 
xiv.  30),  and  it  happened  accordingly.  St.  Peter, 
in  the  full  fervour  of  his  resolution,  drew  his 
sword  that  night  on  the  soldiers  in  the  Garden  of 
Gethsemani,  and  followed  his  Divine  Master  even 
into  the  house  of  the  High  Priest.  But  while  there 
the  servants  pointed  to  him  as  having  connection 
with  one  who  was  charged  with  being  an  impostor 
and  blasphemer,  and  he  protested : — "I  know  not 
this  man  of  whom  you  speak"  (Mark  xiv.  71).  St. 
Peter  bewailed  this  denial  ever  after,  *'  not  from 
fear  of  punishment,"  as  St.  Chrysostom  observes, 
^^but  because  he  denied  Him  whom  he  loved" 
(Homily  v.  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans).  / 

As  soon   as  the   Apostles  were  filled  Avith  the: 


268  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT   BOOKS. 

Holy  Ghost  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  St.  Peter  ap- 
peared in  Jerusalem  before  an  immense  multitude, 
who  were  celebrating  the  Jewish  Feast,  and  pro- 
pounded the  truths  of  the  Gospel  in  language  so 
forcible,  that  3,000  begged  to  be  baptized.  On  a 
subsequent  occasion  with  St.  John  he  went  up  to 
the  Temple  '^  at  the  ninth  hour  of  prayer,"  and 
by  his  preaching  made  such  a  deep  impression  that 
6,000  were  received  into  the  Church.  This  success, 
as  well  as  the  active  zeal  of  these  Apostles  so 
stirred  up  the  envy  and  alarm  of  the  Synagogue, 
that  they  were  arrested  by  the  Sanhedrim,  on 
the  charge  of  sedition,  and  sent  to  jail  :  ''  But 
^'  an  angel  of  the  Lord  by  night  opening  the  doors 
^'  of  the  prison,  and  leading  them  out  said  :  Go,  and 
'^  standing  speak  in  the  Temple  to  the  people  all  the 
''  words  of  this  life  "  (Acts  v.  19,  20).  Early  next 
morning  the  guard  was  startled  to  find  the  heavy 
doors  rolled  back,  and  the  two  prisoners  in  the 
Temple,  teaching  the  truths  of  salvation.  When 
asked  why  they  did  so  in  defiance  of  the  law,  they 
answered :  ''  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than 
''  men  "  (Acts  v.  29).  / 

At  Joppa,  St.  Peter  had  a  vision,  announcing  the 
Divine  will  for  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles  into 
the  Church,  and  immediately  he  began  his  new 
mission  by  baptizing  Cornelius,  the  centurion,  in 
command  of  the  Eoman  garrison  at  Ccsarca.  From 
this  he  went  to  Antioch,  and  thence,  after  seven 


THE    SEVEN    CATHOLIC    EPISTLES.  269 

years  to  Eome,  which  he  governed  as  bishop  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  there  shed  his  blood  for  the 
faith  in  a.d.  67  or  68,  being  crucified  head  doAvn- 
wards  on  the  Janiculum.  / 

The  Fiest  Epistle  of  St.  Peter: — It  was  in 
Eome,  during  the  persecution  of  Nero  about  a.d.  Q5, 
that  St.  Peter  wrote  his  first  Epistle  to  the 
"  Strangers  dispersed  through  Pontas,  Galatia^ 
"  Cappadocia,  Asia,  Bithynia."  In  it  he  encourages 
the  converts  to  brave  the  severe  ordeal  through 
which  they  were  passing,  by  holding  out  to  them 
the  reward  that  awaits  good  and  faithful  followers 
of  Christ.  Some  critics  think  its  style  is  not  that 
of  St.  Peter ;  but  this  is  explained  by  tradition, 
which  represents  St.  Peter  as  having  supplied  the 
matter  to  '^  Sylvanus,  a  faithful  brother  unto  you, 
"as  I  think,  I  have  written  briefly"  (1st  Epistle 
of  St.  Peter  v.  12).  / 

The  Epistle  is  dated  from  Babylon,  not  the  capital 
of  Chaldea,  which  became  a  by-word  among  the 
nations  for  profligacy,  and  was  destroyed  by  the 
Emperor  Caligula,  before  a.d.  41.  The  Babylon  of 
St.  Peter's  first  Epistle  is  Eome,  because  in  it  he 
addressed  the  Jewish  Christians  chiefly,  and  by 
them  Eo77ie  was  commonly  referred  to  as  Babylon, 
Like  the  prosperous  but  corrupt  capital  on  the 
Euphrates,  Eome  was  not  more  notorious  for  opulence 
than  for  the  luxury  and  licentiousness  of  her  inha- 
bitants.    Thus  it  happened  that  the  great  city  on 


270  THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    BOOKS. 

the  Tiber  is  often  mentioned  as  Babylon  by  St.  John 
in  the  Apocalypse  (xvi.  19 ;  xvii.  5  ;  xviii.  2,  etc.); 
and  now  that  the  Jews  were  groaning  under  the 
Eoman  yoke,  they  had  a  special  reason  for  regard- 
ing Eome  to  be  to  them  what  Eabylon  was  to  their 
fathers  in  the  days  of  JSTabuchodonosor,  the  scene  of 
their  exile.  For  these  reasons,  and  also  as  St. 
Jerome  remarks,  to  conceal  his  whereabouts  from 
Nero's  myrmidons,  St.  Peter  dated  his  first  Epistle 
from  Eabylon.  / 

In  the  Second  Epistle  of  St.  Feter  (i.  14)  these 
words  occur  : — "  Eeing  assured  that  the  laying 
"away  of  this  my  tabernacle  is  at  hand."  It  must 
have  been  therefore  written  not  many  days  before 
his  martp'dom.  Hence  it  is  regarded  a  last  exhorta- 
tion to  his  sorrowing  children  in  the  Church  to 
cherish  the  inestimable  gift  of  faith,  in  order  to  be 
prepared  for  the  terrible  judgment  to  come : — "Eut 
"  the  day  of  the  Lord  shall  come  as  a  thief  in  which 
"  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  great  violence, 
"and  the  elements  shall  be  melted  with  heat,  and 
"the  earth  and  the  works  that  are  in  it  shall  be 
"burnt  up  "  (2nd  Epistle  of  St.  Peter  iii.  10).  / 

First,  Second,  and  Third  Epistles  of  St. 
John  : — St.  John  the  Evangelist  is  the  writer  of 
three  of  the  Catholic  Epistles,  and  in  them  he 
earnestly  implores  the  faithful  to  make  their  lives 
worthy  of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  Divinity  and 
Incarnation  he  had  just  set  forth  in  his   Gospel. 


THE    SEVEN    CATHOLIC   EPISTLES.  271 

These  doctrines  he  repeats  in  his  Epistles^  with  all 
the  weight  of  his  authority,  in  order  that  faith 
in  our  Blessed  Lord  may  bear  good  and  abundant 
fruit.  The  second  of  these  Epistles,  though  in- 
tended for  the  whole  Church,  was  addressed  to  a 
pious  lady,  and  the  third  was  forwarded  to  his 
''  dearly  beloved  Gains,"  a  convert  of  high  standing, 
who  opened  his  purse  freely  to  relieve  the  distress 
of  his  poorer  brethren./ 

That  St.  John  is  the  writer  of  these  Epistles 
there  can  be  no  doubt  from  their  phraseology, 
which  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  fourth  Gospel. 
Moreover  there  is  the  statement : — "-  That  which 
'^  was  from  the  beginning,  which  we  have  heard, 
^' which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we 
'^  have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled  of 
^Hhe  word  of  life"  (1st  Epistle  of  St.  John  i.  1), 
and  this  exactly  corresponds  with  the  character  of 
St.  John  the  Evangelist. 

The  Epistle  of  St.  Jude  : — The  writer  of  the 
last  of  the  seven  Catholic  Epistles  is  St.  Jude,  or 
Thaddeus,  for  it  begins  thus  : — '^  Jude,  the  servant 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  brother  of  James."  Like  St. 
Peter's  second  Epistle,  it  warns  the  faithful  against 
the  errors  of  certain  heretics,  who  were  every  day 
becoming  more  aggressive.  It  also  inculcates  the 
necessity  of  good  works,  a  doctrine  which  was 
denied  by  the  false  teachers,  against  whom  St.  Jude 
was  contending.  /    ^^/. 


FEINTED   BY  SEALY,  BRYEKS   AND   WALKEE,  MIDDLE  ABBEY  STEEET,  DUBLIN 


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